Ahan Raina

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I am a writer based in New Jersey who hopes to build a career discussing issues of philosophy, culture, politics, and policy. I was educated at the University of Chicago, with degrees in Philosophy and in Law, Letters, and Society, the latter with a focus field in Law and Economics. I have till now mostly written for the Harper Review, and done research on moral philosophy, constitutional law, the philosophy of language, and Ludwig Wittgenstein. I also currently serve as a Series Editor for the blog of the American Philosophical Association. To read more about the issues I hope to write about and work on, consult this (Part 1, Part 2) write-up of mine.

• Philosophy in our times: a call for submissions, Blog of the American Philosophical Association (November 2025)
  • In which I introduce a new direction for the Graduate Student Reflection series of the blog of the American Philosophical Association, a direction which highlights the interdisciplinary and applied value of philosophy, and the diversity of walks of life which come to philosophy, at a time when the value and existence of academic philosophy is being questioned.
• Allergic to tragedy, Harper Review (Spring 2024)
  • A piece about the use of tragedy in Bollywood movies, the incompatibility between tragedy and modern moral philosophy, and the implications for liberal political theory.
• Aretatic Legal Theory and the Case for Rights Proportionality, senior thesis (April 2024)
  • Abstract: The American judicial system adjudicates cases concerning the infringement of constitutional rights in a unique manner compared to much of the rest of the world. The United States resolves these cases by the categorical striking of either the rights claim or infringing state action in what has been termed rights absolutism, while many other countries focus on whether the state action creates public benefit which is proportional to the harm caused by the rights infringement, in what is referred to as rights proportionality. I argue that rights absolutism implicitly assumes a normative theory of law grounded in a Dworkinian understanding of rights, which itself is grounded in Kantian moral theory. I further argue that judges have substantial reasons to assume the validity of value pluralism, and thus that the Dworkin-Kant model has the fatal flaw of being unable to account for pluralism. I suggest that the only viable solution is the adoption of an aretaic theory of law: one grounded in virtue ethical theory. I conclude that if judges approach rights adjudication within an aretaic frame, they necessarily reproduce the jurisprudence of proportionality, and indeed produce a stronger version of it.
• Logic, Ethics, and Wittgenstein's God, senior thesis, departmental honors (April 2024)
  • In this paper, I offer an account of how Wittgenstein understands normativity in ethics by analogy to how he understands normativity in logic. In discussing Wittgenstein on logic, I offer a description of how Wittgenstein would resolve Lewis Caroll's famous Tortoise and Achilles problem. Along the way, I interpret Wittgenstein in some pretty novel ways. For one, I turn to Wittgenstein's wartime notebooks to argue for the Tractatus as being essentially a proto-existentialist text. I adopt and elaborate on Jean-Phillippe Narboux's medial theory of showing in the Tractatus, rejecting the more popular standard and resolute interpretations. Finally, I hint at a philosophy of language which rejects the mutual exclusivity of the Tractatus and the Philosophical Investigations, offering the possibility of a synthesis of the two.
• Homo scientificus, Harper Review (Autumn 2023)
  • A polemic against the dominance of scientism in our culture, and its adverse impact on issues of society and ethics.
• When artists don't try, Harper Review (Spring 2023)
  • A letter responding to the statement 'art must be political.' Got to talk about Nietzsche, Monet, and do a little film criticism. There seems to be an issue with the link to the piece on the Harper Review website, so I've uploaded a scan of the print edition.
• The Messianic Instinct of Youth to Rebel, Montgomery News
  • A piece I wrote for my hometown paper in high school where I reflected on my time advocating for climate change legislation, and how the experience deepened my faith in democracy. It's going to take a miracle for me to find the piece, but once I do I will be sure to upload it.
• The Youth Problem, Montgomery News

• The Masque of Youth by Elena Eisenstadt, The Chicago Maroon (September 2023)
  • Where I was interviewed by Elena regarding my experience being taught by Agnes Callard for her wonderful piece regarding charismatic professors and the cults of personality which can form around them.
• Celebrating Kashmiri Hindu Heritage, Stars, Stripes, and Sanatanis (April 2021)
  • In which I got to be a guest on the podcast of the Hindu Student Council, talking about being a Kashmiri Hindu American on genocide awareness month.
• How to Engage Youth in Climate Action, Citizens' Climate Radio (February 2020)

Email: ahanraina2002@gmail.com