Calvin Baker

University of Bristol Postgraduate Award, University of Bristol - Religious Studies

I graduated from Stanford with a BA in philosophy in 2018 and will begin a PhD in philosophy at Princeton in Fall 2020, after completing my Fulbright. In the UK, I’ll be studying for an MA in Religion, focusing on Buddhist philosophy. I originally became interested in Buddhism when I began to study and practise Theravāda Buddhist meditation as an undergraduate, and now aspire to be part of the burgeoning dialogue between Western and Buddhist philosophy. My hope is that the academic discipline of philosophy becomes increasingly more global as Western philosophers begin to engage seriously with the traditions of other cultures. I’m particularly excited to live in the city of Bristol during my Fulbright year. Having lived in London for a year as a seven-year-old and in Oxford for six months during an undergraduate study abroad term, I have quite a soft spot for the UK, and can’t wait to experience life in a British city I haven’t yet visited. In addition to my studies, I plan to join a croquet club, become a member of the Bristol chapter of Effective Altruism (a social movement centred on evidence-backed approaches to doing good), enjoy some afternoon teas and make lots of friends along the way.