IDIL ÇAKMUR

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About 
link to CV

contact: 
idilcak[at]sas.upenn[dot]edu
I’m a fourth-year Philosophy Ph.D. candidate at the University of Pennsylvania, originally from Istanbul, Turkey. Before Penn, I studied Philosophy and Economics at Brown and briefly lived in New York as a “Chief Utopia Officer”--my favorite title yet.

Other than philosophy, I like to read fiction, watch films, and change haircuts often, apparently.



Research
Areas of interest: ethics, aesthetics,
philosophy of mind, feminist philosophy

You can read more about my teaching here.

I’m curious about how we build a shared social world if we accept that we all live in “partly private, partly fabricated world”s, as Iris Murdoch would describe it. My dissertation focuses on how we can have shared thought if we take the idiosyncrasies in our concepts seriously, rather than emphasize what is common.  I work with Errol Lord, Jennifer Morton, Sukaina Hirji and Daniele Lorenzini. I am also currently an Affiliated Fellow at the Conceptual Foundations of Conflict Project.

work on concepts

The Place for Conceptual Work in Moral Life (draft) sketches out the space for “conceptual work”, where an individual works to get a better grasp of their concepts, and its potential significance in our lives.

work on Murdoch

Improving a Perspective: Murdoch’s Truth-Seeking Imagination (draft) draws on Murdoch’s account of the imagination and resources from Elisabeth Camp’s work to spell out the ways Murdoch thinks we come to improve our perspectives.

work on aesthetics

Ethics of Body Aesthetics (under review) proposes a new critique of our conventional body beauty practices as being deficient not only morally, but as aesthetic practices. 

Standards of “Beauty” (Debates in Aesthetics Volume. 20, No. 2) develops a response to Sherri Irvin’s work, raising the question of what counts as a standard of “beauty”.

Public Philosophy
I was a Marc Sanders 2024 Media Fellow in Longform Writing, a Philosopher in Residence at a local high school in Philadelphia in 2025, and a Faculty Assistant at the Matthew Strother Center for Examined Life in 2026.

In my public facing work, I’m interested in exploring the things that concern individuals in their daily thinking of themselves, especially emotions, aspirations, and interpersonal relationships. I’m currently working on,

Murdoch’s Truth-Seeking Imagination: considering the role of the imagination in Murdoch’s moral philosophy in the Junkyard. 

A Guide to Impolite Conversation: an essay about breaking norms in conversation to build connection, in Psyche.

The Good Unintended: reconsidering the good of breakups by turning to Plato and Iris Murdoch, in Surprising Ethics (and the CFCP channel).