DEE PAYTON

I'm an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at the University of Virginia. My current research focuses on topics in the philosophy of sexuality, aesthetics, and methodologies in social metaphysics and analytic feminism. I earned my PhD from Rutgers University (New Brunswick) in May 2021 and my dissertation was on the metaphysics of social construction.

Short descriptions of each of my papers are listed below.
Papers currently under review are marked with an asterisk.*
Please email me if you're interested in reading a draft.

Email: dpayton[at]virginia[dot]edu

Academic CV

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS
SOCIAL METAPHYSICS & PHILOSOPHICAL METHODOLOGY

Normative Social Ontology (Journal of Social Ontology, forthcoming). This is a paper about the role of value in projects in social ontology. PDF
Emancipatory Methodology [with Elizabeth Barnes] (Ethics, 2025). This is a paper about the role of political commitments in descriptive projects in social ontology. PhilPapers | PDF
Social Properties (The Routledge Handbook of Properties, 2024). This paper is a survey of the existing literature on the social construction of properties. PhilPapers | PDF
Searching for Social Properties (Philosophy & Phenomenological Research, 2022). This is a paper about what it takes for a property to be social. PhilPapers | PDF

PHILOSOPHY OF SEXUALITY & AESTHETICS

Scenes as Games: Agency, Autonomy, and Value in BDSM (Hypatia, 2025). This is a paper about the metaphysics & ethics of BDSM scenes, analyzed as games. PhilPapers| PDF

WORKS-IN-PROGRESS
SOCIAL METAPHYSICS & PHILOSOPHICAL METHODOLOGY

Feminist Methodology and Doing Ontology (In Progress). In this paper I identify a tension in deflationary approaches to doing feminist metaphysics. I argue this tension can be resolved, but what it takes to do so illuminates something important about feminist methodology.*
System Caging (In Progress). This is a paper about the material nature and harms of systemic marginalization.*

Critical Explanation (In Progress). This is a paper about levels of explanation in critical philosophy. When does it make sense to analyze problems in terms of representations, like norms and concepts? When does it make sense to analyze problems in terms of materials or systems? I argue that the answers here are importantly related to the solutions that critical projects aim to recommend.

PHILOSOPHY OF SEXUALITY & AESTHETICS

Sexual Compromises (In Progress). This is a paper about the ethics of persuading someone to compromise on sex.*
Real Horror (In Progress). In this paper I argue that many horror stories are allegories for real life horror, and horror fiction is fun because it gives us the opportunity to play with feeling horrified.*
An Epistemology of Horror (In Progress). In this paper I argue that horror is an epistemic emotion, much like wonder and awe.*

Horror and Denial. (In Progress). In this paper I argue that sometimes, when minorities testify as to their experiences of extreme violence, majority audiences are horrified. This is understandable, but it also isn't good, because we are often inclined to deny the reality of what horrifies us.
Darkness Visible (In Progress).This is a paper about James Baldwin's analysis of the problem of race in the US, modeled on the problem of evil in John Milton's Paradise Lost.
Sex & Disgust (In Progress). In this paper I argue that our aesthetic & moral judgments about sex are related in politically important ways. Abstract