Helen Han Wei Luo

Ph.D. program in Philosophy

2026-27 Teaching Scholar

Helen Han Wei Luo is a fifth-year doctoral candidate in Philosophy specializing in ethics and classical Chinese philosophy. Her dissertation, Etiquette as Ethics: The Search for Egalitarian and Multicultural Standards of Civility argues for the normative importance of etiquette in ordinary life. Drawing on the Confucian ethical ideal of li (禮 ritual propriety), her project defends the norms of civility and politeness as central to the expression of interpersonal regard in day-to-day interactions. Far from being relics of antiquated societies, rules of politeness have their place in modern democracies as reflections of cosmopolitan principles such as egalitarianism and multiculturalism.

            Her research is partly supported by the SSHRC doctoral fellowship. Raised in Vancouver, she received a B.A. in French and Political Science from Simon Fraser University and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of British Columbia. In the 2026-2027 year, she will serve as a Heyman Center Graduate Fellow, an Incite Institute Doctoral Fellow, and a Columbia GSAS Teaching Scholar.

            She was elected in 2024 to the Columbia Senate as the graduate humanities representative, where she served as the Vice Chair of the Student Affairs Committee and the Co-Chair of the Diversity Commission during the 2025-2026 academic year.

            She is also a creative writer and translator, with representative work appearing in the CBC Literary Prizes, the PEN Canada New Voices Award, and the 2023 Best of Canadian Poetry anthology. She is currently working on a contemporary translation of the Daoist classic Zhuangzi. For more about her academic and creative work, see her website.