Kellan D. L. Head
Kellan D. L. Head, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Philosophy in the College of Arts and Sciences (A&S), was selected as the 2025 winner of the prestigious Mary Hatch Marshall Essay Award for his essay titled “Alienation and Cognitive Subjectivism About Well-Being.” A&S and the ϲ Library Associates will host a virtual award event and author reading on Tuesday, April 8, at 1 p.m. (EST). Anyone interested in attending can register by emailing libevent@syr.edu by April 4.
Head will receive a $1,000 prize. His essay focuses on well-being concerns and how well a person’s life is going for them. To have a basic grasp of how things like oppression, injustice, individual benefit and individual harm function, we need an accurate understanding of well-being. Cognitive subjectivism holds that believing that ‘x’ is good for you establishes that ‘x’ is good for you. However, Head argues that cognitive subjectivism is false, because an agent can believe that some ‘x’ is good for them while simultaneously being alienated by, averse to or estranged by ‘x.’ Subjectivist theories must not allow for alien objects to function as welfare goods for individuals; doing so would eliminate the attractiveness of subjectivist theories in the first place. Head’s argument relies on two illustrative cases. He considers an objection and concludes by making a positive suggestion about an agent’s relation to their own welfare goods; a more nuanced and complex subjectivism is preferable to cognitive subjectivism. In short, having the belief by itself that something is good for us isn’t enough to make it good for us.
Head’s essay was chosen from those submitted by A&S graduate students currently enrolled in African American studies, English, art and music histories, languages, literatures and linguistics, philosophy, religion and writing studies, rhetoric, and composition.
Head plans to defend his Ph.D. in philosophy during the Spring 2026 semester. His areas of specialization are ethics, epistemology and social epistemology. He received his master’s degree in philosophy from Brandeis University and his bachelor’s degree in Linguistics and English: Creative Writing from the University of Rochester.
Professor Mary Hatch Marshall was a founding member of the Library Associates and holds a distinguished place in the college’s history. In 1952, she became the Jesse Truesdell Peck Professor of English Literature —the first woman appointed a full professor in the college— after having joined the faculty four years earlier. Library Associates established the annual Mary Hatch Marshall Award to honor and help perpetuate her scholarly standards and the generous spirit that characterized her inspirational teaching career, which lasted through her retirement in 1993. Members of Library Associates, Marshall’s friends and family, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation and the Central New York Community Foundation all contributed to the endowment, established in 2004, that funds the award.
Library Associates are a group of dedicated SU Libraries supporters who help to raise funds and accessibility for the Libraries’ special collections, rare books, and manuscripts through opportunities like the Faculty Fellows program. Those wishing to join the Library Associates or make a gift to the Mary Hatch Marshall Award Endowment can contact Ron Thiele, assistant dean for advancement for the Libraries, at rlthiele@syr.edu or 315.560.9419.
