Elizabeth Cantalamessa
I am an Assistant Professor of social and political
philosophy at St.Bonaventure University.
​My research lies at the intersection of social philosophy,
philosophy of language, and value theory.​
I have published on topics including political speech,
Taylor Swift, aesthetic vocabulary and disagreement,
democratic deliberation, and copyright law.
I received my PhD from the University of Miami;
my dissertation "Laugh Hard at the Absurdly Evil:
Humor as Cultural Technology" introduces a model of humor
as a tool for revealing, reinforcing,
and challenging social norms.
I am also an Emerging Scholar with
the Mark Twain Circle of America
and I was a Quarry Farm Fellow with
the Center for Mark Twain Studies.
I am developing a monograph focusing on
Twain's approach to non-literal forms of speech
such as humbug, irony, and tall tales.
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My last name looks harder to pronounce than it is:
"can't" "a-la" "mess" "ah"
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Biography
I grew up in Houston, Texas. After dropping out of high school, I rediscovered my passion for learning through a philosophy elective at my local community college. That course changed everything—I went on to earn my B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy at the University of Wyoming. I later taught at the University of Houston-Downtown before joining the PhD program in Philosophy at the University of Miami. I was a guest on the Philosopher's Nest podcast where I discuss my unconventional academic trajectory as well as my work on humor.
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I’m a self-described “nomadic nerd.” In my spare time, I like to follow Bob Dylan around on tour; play video games, watch bad movies, and take road trips with my cats. I also have a middling Substack where I post idiosyncratic essays and concert reviews. ​​ ​
Papers, Drafts, etc.
Please email me if you'd like a draft or pre-print.
Forthcoming in Introduction to Aesthetics edited by Emmie Malone and Elizabeth Scarbrough. (2025, Routledge).
I argue that we should stop thinking of humor solely as an emotion and start treating it as a tool for revealing, reinforcing, and challenging social norms. After surveying major philosophical accounts, I develop a model that explains how humor functions not just to amuse, but to manage power. When used strategically, humor can wound, disarm, deflect, or liberate. At its most dangerous, humor becomes a communicative weapon: a way of shaping power while dodging responsibility. Humor not just a source of laughter—it’s a site of struggle.
Rights of the Living Dead: Taylor Swift's Zombie Army
in Taylor Swift and the Philosophy of Re-Recording edited by Brandon Polite (2025, Bloomsbury).
This paper challenges standard referentialist accounts of proper names by analyzing how public figures function as discursive sites rather than stable referents. I draw on Barthes' notion of the "death of the author" and Foucault’s account of the "author-function" to rethink the function of proper names in public life. Using Taylor Swift's self-appropriation as a case study, I argue that once a person becomes a sufficiently public figure, their name functions to license entitlements, permissions, and obligations in addition to referring to a non-linguistic entity. (This is my favorite piece I've written)
in Art and Philosophy: Essays at the Intersection edited by Alex King (2025, OUP).
In this paper I introduce and motivate a pragmatist method for philosophizing about aesthetic disagreement. I argue that disagreement should be modeled as a practical activity or process, and show how this conception of disagreement avoids many of the puzzles faced by views that prioritize semantics.
Inverting the Implementation Challenge for Conceptual Engineers:
Lessons from the Disability Rights Movement
In this paper I survey some empirical and theoretical work on the “Implementation Gap” that arose between the design and implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, touted as an important legal component in combatting the attitudinal and structural barriers that impact people with disabilities. I then provide a new set of challenges for conceptual engineers interested in successful implementation.
Pragmatist Feminist Metaphysics
In this paper I introduce and defend a pragmatist methodology for projects in feminist metaphysics, drawing on the work of neopragmatists Huw Price and Amie Thomasson.
Eliminating the Fiction-Nonfiction Divide
I argue that philosophers should abandon the "fiction-nonfiction" divide in the philosophy of documentary film and replace it with Thi Nguyen's notion of aesthetic trust and betrayal. I explore the benefits of my proposal using the Martin Scorsese and Bob Dylan film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story.
Sentimentalist Conceptual Engineering
Conceptual engineering is often framed as the activity of assessing and/or revising our concepts and conceptual frameworks in order to improve how people "think and talk." I argue that art can elicit feelings that cause us to reconsider our conceptual, linguistic, or normative commitments without explicit justification or explanation. In other words, art operates in the space of causes, rather than the space of reasons. As such, art is better suited in contexts where reason-based deliberation would fail or has failed in the past. Consequently, conceptual engineering is not just a matter of changing how people “think and talk,” but also how they feel; I call this “sentimentalist conceptual engineering.”
Courses Taught
Please Contact Me for Syllabi
Partial list (Full list available on my CV)
Art, Power, and Politics
Fall 2025; St. Bonaventure University
Ancient Philosophy
Spring 2025; St. Bonaventure University
Social and Ethical Issues in Computing
Spring 2023; University of Miami
Philosophy of Language
Fall 2022; University of Miami.
19th Century Philosophy
Spring 2022; University of Miami.
Summer 2021; University of Wyoming.
Fall 2021; University of Wyoming.
Get in Touch
Please contact me if you have any questions or interests regarding my work in progress, course offerings, or any other inquires.
e[last name] [at] sbu [dot] edu
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