Curriculum Vitae
Sung Jun (Jun) Han
Vanderbilt University sung.jun.han@vanderbilt.edu
Philosophy Department sungjunhan.com
Ph.D. Candidate
Korean-Canadian
Area of Specialization Area of Competence
Social and Political Philosophy Normative Ethics
Democracy Pragmatism
Egalitarianism
AI and Political Philosophy
Education__________________________________________________________
Ph.D. (expected Summer 2025), Philosophy, Vanderbilt University.
Dissertation: “Madisonian Lottocracy: Filtering, not Decisional”
Committee: Robert Talisse (chair), Jacob Barrett, Michael Hodges, Scott Aikin, Alexander
Guerrero (Rutgers University)
M.A. (2018), Political and Legal Thought, Queen’s University, Canada.
Non-degree (2016), Philosophy and History, University of Toronto, Canada.
B.A. (2011), Political Science and Philosophy, Yonsei University, Korea.
Publications________________________________________________________
Original Article: Rethinking the Role of Identity in Democracy: a Critique of Darby and Martinez, Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science (forthcoming)
Book Review: Democracy for Busy People by Kevin Elliott, Journal of Moral Philosophy (forthcoming)
Book Review: What is Epistemology? by Stephen Hetherington, Teaching Philosophy 43(2020): 93-94. (with Scott Aikin)
In Review _________________________________________________________
“Madisonian Lottocracy: Filtering, not Decisional” under review at Australasian Journal of Philosophy
“Do Lottocratic Legislators Have Freer Hands?” under review at Analysis
Conference Presentations_____________________________________________
“Making Lottocracy Less Susceptible to Capture”
APA 2025 Central Division Meeting, Main Program(February 2025)
Tennessee Philosophical Association 55th Annual Meeting (November 2024)
“From Chatbots to Policy Makers: AI's Role in Democratic Decision-Making”
APA 2025 Eastern Division Meeting, Special Event (January 2025)
“Lottocratic Liquid Democracy: A Copernican Turn”
PPE Society Eighth Annual Meeting (November 2024)
“Madisonian Lottocracy”
APA 2024 Eastern Division Meeting, Main Program (January 2024)
PPE Society Seventh Annual Meeting (November 2023)
“The Legitimacy of Institutions as Generators and Deliberative Democracy”
14th Annual Conference of Manchester Center for Political Theory (MANCEPT) (September 2017)
“Pragmatic and Deliberative Concept of Human Rights”
The Long Island Philosophical Society (March 2017)
68th Annual Meeting of the New Mexico-Texas Philosophical Society (February 2017)
“Nationalism and Institutional Constraint”,
14th Intermountain West Student Philosophy Conference (February 2017)
Conference Comments_______________________________________________
Discussion of New Interventionist Just War Theory: A Critique by Jordy Rocheleau
Author Meet Critics,
Tennessee Philosophical Association 54th Annual Meeting (November 2023)
Comment on “Quinean Underdetermination and Law as Integrity” by Noel Boyle
Tennessee Philosophical Association 54th Annual Meeting (November 2023)
Comment on “Egalitarianism, Marxism, and Alienation” by Lamont Rodgers
68th Annual Meeting of the New Mexico-Texas Philosophical Society (February 2017)
Work-in-progress____________________________________________________
“From Chatbots to Policy Makers: AI's Role in Democratic Decision-Making.”
: a 7000 words article arguing what role of AI is consistent with core ideals of democracy. Based on the Input-Process-Output (IPO) model, I distinguish four categories of utilizing AI in democracy–democratic & non-democratic and decisional & non-decisional. I argue that democratic decisional AI and non-democratic decisional AI cannot be made part of an authentically democratic decision-making system. While agreeing with the on-going discussion of algorithmic transparency and accountability, I argue that democratic non-decisional AI should be utilized to resist voter ignorance.
“Lottocratic Liquid Democracy: A Reverse-Copernican Turn”
: a 7000 words article arguing that the epistemic justification of liquid democracy can be strengthened by incorporating a lottocratic element in its decision-making procedure. Liquid democracy, which makes all political decisions via referendum but with an easy option of delegating a vote to anyone who is believed to have some expertise in the issue, ensures the final decisions to be made by voters with issue-competence. Yet, voter ignorance obstructs identifying a competent delegate, hindering the epistemic quality of final decisions. I argue that letting a lottocratic body filter the most viable policy options and the voters choose one of them via liquid democracy would more reliably produce qualified outcomes.
Teaching__________________________________________________________
Vanderbilt University
Instructor of Record
Introduction to Ethics (Spring 2025)
General Logic (Fall 2024)
Introduction to Philosophy (Spring 2023)
Teaching Assistant
Justice (Barrett, Spring 2024)
Justice (Talisse, Fall 2023)
Justice (Talisse, Fall 2022)
Contemporary Political Philosophy (Talisse, Fall 2022)
Introduction to Philosophy (Wuerth, Fall 2021)
Introduction to Ethics (Congdon, Spring 2020)
Queen’s University
Teaching Assistant
The State and the Citizen (Fairfield, Winter 2017)
Moral Issues (Schüklenk, Fall 2016)
Fellowships and Awards______________________________________________
Vanderbilt University
Graduate Fellow at Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities (2024-2025)
Graduate School Travel Award (2023)
Departmental Travel Award (2023)
Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities Dissertation Award (2023)
Berry Travel Award (2023)
Vanderbilt Philosophy Departmental Fellowship (2019-2025)
Queen’s University
Graduate Student Travel Award (2017)
Queen’s Philosophy Departmental Fellowship (2016-2017)
University of Toronto
Lilian Fitzmaurice Foundation Award (2014)
Maurice Katherine Malins OTSS Scholarship (2014)
William and Sheila Cowan OTSS Scholarship in the Humanities (2013)
William and Sheila Cowan OTSS Scholarship in the Humanities (2012)
Yonsei University
Awarded Honors (2010)
Others
MANCEPT Bursary, University of Manchester (2017)
Service____________________________________________________________
Writing, Research, and Professionalization Committee of Philosophy Graduate Students Association (2024-2025)
President of Korean Graduate Students and Scholars Association (2021-2024)
Vice-president of Korean Graduate Students and Scholars Association (2020-2021)
Member of Philosophy Graduate Students Association (2019-2025)
Committee of Graduate Students, MA Student Representative (2016-2017)
Research Assistant, Dr. Yi’s office, University of Toronto (2013-2015)
Research Assistant, North Korea Research Group at Munk School of Global Affairs (2012-2013)
Reviewer of American Philosophical Quarterly, Politikon: The IAPSS Journal of Political Science, Australasian Journal of Philosophy.
Languages_________________________________________________________
English (Native)
Korean (Native)
German (Intermediate)
Python (Intermediate)
References_________________________________________________________
Robert Talisse Alexander Guerrero
W. Alton Jones Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy
Vanderbilt University Rutgers University
robert.talisse@vanderbilt.edu alex.guerrero@rutgers.edu
Scott Aikin Michael Hodges
Associate Professor of Philosophy Professor of Philosophy
Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University
scott.f.aikin@vanderbilt.edu michael.p.hodges@vanderbilt.edu
Jacob Barrett
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Political Science
Vanderbilt University
jacob.a.barrett@vanderbilt.edu
