Advisor: Professor Donald Morrison

Jie Chen started the doctoral program in philosophy at Rice in 2018. Her primary research interest is Ancient Greek Philosophy. She is currently developing a dissertation on Aristotle’s "ἐνέργεια-based” pleasure. By employing a metaphysical interpretation of ἐνέργεια to Aristotle's ethical understanding of pleasure, Jie argues that pleasure holds greater potential as a candidate for Aristotelian eudaimonia than previously considered by scholars. Jie is also interested in moral psychology, ethics, and feminist philosophy. Her writings have been presented at prestigious conferences, including Aristotelica in Italy; the Society for Electro-Acoustic Music in the United States Conference (held at New York University), and Rice Art History Graduate Conference at Rice University. She has been invited to present her paper “Women in Socratic Love” at the upcoming International Societies for Socratic Studies (ISSS) conference in Rio de Janeiro in Oct. 2023. Jie has received fellowships, including the Brown Teaching Research Fellowship and William Edwin Bryant, Jr. Graduate Fellowship, from the Philosophy Department at Rice University. She has also secured a research funding from the “Building Research on Inequality and Diversity to Grow Equity (BRIDGE)” program at Rice University (2023-2024).

Jie demonstrated her passion for teaching by instructing the course “History of Chinese Philosophy” during the Fall semester of 2022. She is scheduled to teach the course “Ancient Moral Psychology’’ at Rice University in the Spring of 2024.

Outside of philosophy, Jie enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking and taking road trips, and cherishes the time spent with her child, Peri.