Here are the rules for my weekly most-underrated philosopher of the week entry: 1. no dead people; 2. no people currently or about to be employed in a Leiter top 50 department (even thought these are also filled with underrated folk); 3. no former dissertation advisors, or other teachers from graduate school; 4. no former students; 5. No untenured folk. There is also an unofficial rule: 6. Excellence in more than one AOS. (That is I want to recognize *interesting* philosophers, not just hyperspecialized ones.)
This week's most underrated philosopher, Steff Rocknak, exemplifies breadth, especially. She not only works on David Hume, early analytic philosophy, philosophy of mind, and even some Husserl, but she is also a nationally recognized sculptor. That is, somebody that is so...NewAPPS! I am most familiar with Steff's work on David Hume. She is circulating a brilliant manuscript that is a commentary on one of the most difficult and complicated parts of Hume's Treatise, 1.4.2. In it she overturns a lot of the easy/lazy readings of Hume as a straightforward empiricist. Hume scholarship will not be the same after it has been published.
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