The Philosophy Department is thrilled to announce that two of our outstanding students, Juan Carlos De Pablo Romero Villareal and Miranda Gladstein, have been accepted into the competitive Junior Research Fellows program at the Kierkegaard Summer Institute (KSI).

This exceptional four-week residential opportunity will take place at the Hong Kierkegaard Library this coming July. Juan Carlos and Miranda will be joining 21 other junior research fellows from 15 countries around the world in their study of philosophy. The fellows will be working closely with the department’s Kierkegaard scholars and program advisors, Anna Söderquist and Brian Söderquist.

Miranda Gladstein

Miranda Gladstein is a sophomore double majoring in Philosophy and Psychology. Her hometown is Minneapolis, MN, and she will be conducting research focused on Kierkegaard’s conception of madness in Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Crumbs and other works. Her analysis will be tracing 21st century notions of madness as they pertain to technology and the “new thinking class.” Miranda poses the question, “To what extent are we, as moderns, “mad,” and are we even aware of that madness?”

Inspired by Professor Brian Söderquist’s course on Existential Philosophy, Miranda began her study of Kierkegaard. She found Kierkegaard’s writings and existentialist philosophy to be “illuminatory and useful on a personal level,” which led her to jump on this opportunity to study his work in such an immersive way with likeminded peers. In fact, meeting fellow scholars just as fascinated by the works of Kierkegaard, is exactly what Miranda is most looking forward to this summer. Working with philosophers from around the world will provide an enriching experience that will impact Miranda’s personal and professional life. The skills she will take away from this program, close textual analysis, independent research, and presenting, will serve her throughout the rest of her academic and professional careers.

Juan Carlos De Pablo Romero Villareal

Juan Carlos De Pablo Romero Villareal, a sophomore double majoring in Philosophy and Political Science with a concentration in International Relations, is from Sevilla, Spain. Juan Carlos will be conducting research that explores how Kierkegaard might respond to the problem that external limitations pose against his existential project. Exploring Kierkegaard’s existentialism, Juan Carlos writes:

Existentialism is, first and foremost, a philosophy of hope, a hope for meaning. Nevertheless, much of my life experiences make me skeptical about the existentialist promise. This is because circumstances do not only mediate between possibilities and reality, but also define what possibilities are. Some circumstances directly interfere with the existential project altogether: nobody would be reasonably asking a person being tortured to own his facticity, nor to grasp the contingency hiding beneath the pain he suffers—minding the philosophical jargon. For Kierkegaard, humans, universally and in essence, have the task to become themselves in action.

Following his love for Kierkegaard, Juan Carlos was motivated to apply for the junior research fellowship program. For him, decision making is “always ex post facto.” When it comes to the specifics of the program, the learning community that the KSI will foster is what is most exciting to Juan Carlos, as he believes that this project is a love letter to all that makes Kierkegaard the immortal writer he always sought to become.

Congratulations to both Miranda Gladstein and Juan Carlos De Pablo Romero Villarreal for their acceptance into the 2026 Junior Research Fellowship program. The Philosophy Department is wishing them the best in their studies and future endeavors!