Hi! I am currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center For Affective Science in Geneva, Switzerland. I completed my PhD jointly at the Institut Jean Nicod in Paris and at the University of Geneva, under the supervision of Jérôme Dokic and Fabrice Teroni. In 2019-2020 I was a Visiting Fellow at the New York University Philosophy department, hosted by Jane Friedman. In 2022-2024 I will be a postdoctoral researcher at City University of New York, hosted by Jesse Prinz, and subsequently at the University of Toronto, hosted by Jennifer Nagel.

I work at the intersection of philosophy of emotion, epistemology, and cognitive science. My dissertation, entitled "The Anxious Inquirer: Emotions and Epistemic Uncertainty", concerns the relation between the epistemic attitude of doubt and the emotion of anxiety. In this dissertation, I propose a model of the affective architecture of doubt inspired in part by research in psychiatry on the persistent and recurring doubt of patients with Obsessive-compulsive disorder.

My current project is entitled "How we feel the future: hope, anxiety, and hypothetical thinking" and concerns the emotion-cognition interactions at play in our apprehension of future possibilities and their value for us. It is financed by a solo "Postdoc Mobility" grant from the Swiss National Funds for Research.

EDUCATION

PHD, PHILOSOPHY

Joint PhD in Philosophy and Cognitive Science - Institut Jean Nicod and University of Geneva. Dissertation awarded with highest honors.

MASTER OF SCIENCE (MSC)

Philosophy of Mental Disorder, King’s College London, UK. Awarded with Distinction

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (BSC), CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Paris-Sorbonne VIII, Paris, FR

BACHELOR OF ARTS (BA), PHILOSOPHY

Paris-Sorbonne IV, Paris, FR

PAPERS

Vazard, J. (forthcoming). Feeling the Unknown: Emotions of Uncertainty and their Valence. Erkenntnis

Vazard, J. (forthcoming). The Doxastic Profile of the Compulsive Re-checker. Philosophical Explorations

Vazard, J., Kurth, C. (forthcoming). Introduction to the Topical Collection, “Worry and Wellbeing: Understanding the Nature, Value, and Challenges of Anxiety”. Synthese

Vazard, J. (forthcoming). Book review for "Psychopathology and Philosophy of Mind", edited by Valentina Cardella and Amelia Gangemi. Philosophical Psychology

Vazard, J. (forthcoming). Everyday Anxious Doubt. Synthese

Vazard, J., & Audrin, C. (2021). The Noetic Feeling of Confusion. Philosophical Psychology, 1-14.

Vazard, J. (2021). From Habits to Compulsions: Losing Control?. Philosophy, Psychiatry, & Psychology, 28(2), 163-171

Bonard, C. & Vazard, J. (2021). Pas de panique ? Les Ateliers de l’Ethique/The Ethics Forum: COVID-19 and Emotions, 16, 1.

Vazard, J. (2019). (Un)reasonable doubt as affective experience: obsessive-compulsive disorder, epistemic anxiety and the feeling of uncertainty. Synthese, 1-18. DOI: 10.1007/s11229-019-02497-y

Vazard, J. (2019). Passions et Psychopathologie, In Origgi, G. (ed.), Dictionnaire des Passions Sociales. Presses Universitaires de France.

Vazard, J. & Deonna, J. (2019). Darker Sides of Guilt, In Cokelet, B. & Maley, C. (eds.), Moral Psychology of Guilt. Rowman and Littlefield.

Vazard, J. (2018). Epistemic Anxiety, Adaptive Cognition, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Discipline Filosofiche: Philosophical Perspectives on Affective Experience and Psychopathology, 137.

Vazard, J. (2018). « Anxiété », version académique, In Kristanek, M. (ed.), l’Encyclopédie philosophique. URL: http://encyclo-philo.fr/anxiete-a/

EDITED VOLUMES

WORRY AND WELL-BEING

Synthese Topical Collection on "Anxiety: its Nature, Value, and Challenges", co-edited with Charlie Kurth.

SELECTED TALKS

Groupe de Recherche en Epistémologie, Collège de France – Paris, December 2020

Questioning one’s Mind: Epistemic Anxiety and the Virtue of Epistemic Cautiousness

Philosophy of Psychology Seminar, New York University – New York, February 2020

Am I wrong about this? Epistemic anxiety as an interrogative attitude

Western Michigan University Philosophy seminar – Kalamazoo, November 2019

Anxiety and Irrational Questioning

European Society for Philosophy & Psychology Annual Conference – Athens, September 2019

Feeling epistemic gaps: feeling confused and the benefits of deep inquiry

European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotion (EPSSE) Annual Conference – Pisa, June 2019

Possible Threats and Open Questions: Active doubt as Interrogative attitude

Swiss Center for Affective Science, Workshop “Cultivating negative emotions” – Geneva, June 2019

What we do when we doubt: Open Questions and Epistemic Anxiety

University of Neuchâtel, Philosophy Research Seminar – March 2019

Is Doubt an Emotion?

Swiss Center for Affective Science Annual Research Forum – Geneva, February 2019

What is anxiety?

University of Geneva, Thumos Research Seminar – Nov. 2018

Unreasonable Doubt as a Failure of Affective Experience

University of Basel, Cognitive Irrationality Research Seminar – May 2018

Adaptive Cognition, Epistemic Anxiety, and OCD

British Society for the History of Philosophy Annual Conference – Durham, April 2018

From Habits to Compulsions: Losing control?

Agency Lab Seminar, Institut Jean Nicod, Ecole Normale Supérieure – Paris, September 2017

Metacognitive Feelings and the Sense of Control

WORK IN PROGRESS

Vazard, J. “The Doxastic Base of Emotions of Uncertainty” (under review)

Vazard, J. "Desirable Futures: Episodic Future Thought, Hope, and Depression" (under review)

Vazard, J., Humbert-Droz, S. “What Role for Imagination in Hope?” (in progress)

Vazard, J. "From Eco-Anxiety to Eco-Hope" (in progress)

Vazard, J. "Emotions of Uncertainty and Affective Forecasting" (in progress)

CONTACT

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