profile photo

Eissa Haydar

Email: e[mylastname]@cmu.edu

I am a first-year PhD student in the Department of Philosophy at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). I did my undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan (UofM), where I studied philosophy (graduating with highest honors) and pure mathematics, with a minor in computer science.

I primarily work in logic and formal epistemology. Most generally, I am interested in questions about complexity and information in the contexts of language, learning, and mathematics. Currently, I am working in the foundations of probabilistic inference, and on connections to decision theory and the philosophy of science.

My CV will be linked here when I make one.

Academic Work

  • New credences clarify self-location and assume less In this paper, I forward an account of subjective probability, accomodated within belief, as opposed to the usual, but less expressive, partial belief. This allows for generalizing Bayesian confirmation and clarifying the problems surrounding so-called "self-locating" belief.

    DRAFT. I am soliciting feedback. [ pdf ]
  • Measuring the complexity of characterizing \([0, 1]\), \(S^1\), and \(\mathbb{R}\) up to homeomorphism (with Matthew Harrison-Trainor) This paper studies the complexity of topological spaces. Basically, given a computable presentation of a space like the unit interval or a circle, how difficult (in a precise descriptive set-theoretic sense) is it to know exactly which space you have? This work began during a summer 2023 REU, where Matthew was my mentor.

    Submitted for publication. [ pdf ] [ arXiv ]
  • Costly Invention Informs Compositional Signaling This paper studies the relationship between compositionality and invention in signaling games, seen as a generalization of language.

    Undergraduate honors thesis, advised by Jim Joyce. [ pdf ] [ story ]

Professional Experience

  • (Currently) Instructor for 80-100 Introduction to Philosopher (Summer Two 2025; CMU)
  • Teaching Assistant for 80-150 Nature of Reason (Spring 2025; CMU)
  • Grader for 80-383/683 Language in Use (Fall 2024; CMU)
  • Instructional Aide for CSE 543: Ethics for AI and Robotics (Winter 2024; UofM)