Yao Yu ‘Kant’ Imagine a Life Without Philosophizing
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When Yao Yu enrolled at UC San Diego in fall 2021, she fully intended to become a biologist. Yet her voracious mind led her to take classes in a variety of fields during her first year—from linguistics to chemical engineering and computer science. None of these deterred Yu from her original vision to become a scientist—until she signed up for the course, “Introduction to Logic.”
“To be a biologist requires strong reasoning skills, so I thought taking the class would help me be a good biologist,” explained Yu. “Professor Rick Grush introduced me to propositional logic and cognitive biases. I found the materials and liked Rick a lot, so I took his next course, ‘Philosophy of Mind.’”
After two classes, Yu was hooked. “I realized I ‘Kant’ imagine a life without philosophizing. So, I completely switched during my third year.”
Yu was selected as the 2025 recipient of the Eric Paul Allison Memorial Prize Fellowship in the Department of Philosophy. The Allison Fellowship honors an outstanding graduating senior who plans to pursue further schooling and who exemplifies the ideals of Eric Paul Allison, including personal integrity, academic excellence and a commitment to learning. The award includes up to $5,000 in scholarship funding towards expenses related to graduate school; Yu will be enrolling at UC Berkeley this fall to begin a doctoral program in philosophy.
Recipients are selected by philosophy faculty members. “Yao Yu is as smart as she is motivated in her academic pursuits,” shared Professor of Philosophy Eric Watkins. “While she started her time at UC San Diego in biology, she soon developed an interest in philosophy, learning German (to a high level of proficiency) so that she could read German philosophers in the original. Along the way, she proved herself unusually able at identifying philosophical problems and not resting content with superficial responses.”
Yu was first introduced to the ideas of Immanuel Kant in one of Watkins’ courses, and she was immediately drawn to how diverse his research interests were. “I found Kant’s thoughts interesting; for instance, the thought that space and time are merely features of our cognitive faculty,” said Yu. “His work encompasses a lot of areas, from logic to ethics and philosophy of science, which matches my wide-ranging interests across many areas of philosophy.”
Her senior honor’s thesis—which was awarded honors with high distinction—centered on Kant’s famous “Second Analogy of Experience;” she argued that one important contemporary interpretation faced significant difficulties. In addition, her other research drew compelling parallels with biological sciences, including investigating whether a group of microbes could have a mental representation of the environment (e.g., antibiotics).
While it may seem like philosophy and biology are two completely different fields, Yu explains that skills learned in philosophy can be applicable to science. “Science makes progress by building upon previous knowledge, which requires the ability to draw inferences from pre-existing research and communicate new findings to continue advancing the field.”
As she prepares to enter UC Berkeley in a few months, Yu is approaching the new academic institution with the same approach—an open mind. While she does not have a specific plan, she would like to continue learning about Kant, philosophy of mind, and their intersections.
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