Tony Oliva II
MA Philosophy Candidate
University of Houston
I am a philosopher whose research focuses on ethics, political philosophy, rhetoric, and aesthetics. My work examines moral responsibility, the relationship between language and political power, and the ways literature shapes moral understanding. I am particularly interested in agency, semantic change, narrative, and the ethical dimensions of human action.
Current Research
Transformative Responsibility
Developing a responsibility-grounded account of transformative experience and moral agency.
The Neoliberal Semantic Shift
Investigating how neoliberalism reshapes political language and democratic discourse.
Patriotic or Problematic
Examining patriotism as a rhetorical and ethical concept in contemporary political communication.
The Line Between Love and Hate
A philosophical reading of Wuthering Heights exploring love, obsession, and the Byronic hero.
Research Interests
Ethics & Moral Responsibility
Moral responsibility, constitutivism, agency, transformative experience, and moral psychology.
Political Philosophy & Rhetoric
Political rhetoric, democratic theory, semantic change, neoliberalism, and public discourse.
Philosophy & Literature
Literary aesthetics, narrative identity, interpretation, and the philosophical study of fiction.
Selected Research
Transformative Responsibility
A responsibility-grounded account of transformative experience and moral agency.
The Neoliberal Semantic Shift
How changing language reshapes political thought and democratic participation.
The Line Between Love and Hate
Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights as a philosophical critique of the Byronic hero.