David R. Koepsell, J.D./Ph.D.
Instructional Associate Professor of Philosophy
Texas A&M University
I work in philosophy of law, ethics, and formal ontology, developing structural frameworks for legal reasoning, obligation, contradiction, and institutional repair. Law, on this view, is not merely a set of rules but an architecture of roles, recognitions, powers, and failures that can be modeled, diagnosed, and repaired.
Intellectual Background
My work begins from a dissatisfaction with approaches to law and ethics that treat norms as abstract prescriptions or purely linguistic artifacts. Instead, I approach legal and moral systems as structured realities: systems of roles, obligations, permissions, and powers sustained by social recognition and institutional support.
A recurring theme across my work is contradiction not as a logical error but as a structural condition. Legal systems fail when recognitions misalign, authorities overreach, permissions conflict, or obligations lack correlates. These failures accumulate as structural contradiction debt, requiring institutional repair to restore coherence.
This framework informs my work in legal ontology, ethics, and AI. If legal reasoning is to be taught, evaluated, or automated responsibly, we must first understand the architecture of law itself.
Education
- Ph.D., Philosophy — SUNY Buffalo
- J.D. — SUNY Buffalo School of Law
- B.A., Political Science & English (Honors) — SUNY Buffalo
Academic Appointments
- Texas A&M University — Instructional Associate Professor - Philosophy
- Texas A&M International University — Online Adjunct Instructor
- University at Buffalo, Research Associate Professor - Philosophy
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México — Visiting Professor 2014
- Delft University of Technology — Tenured Associate Professor 2008-2014
Writing & Publications
I am the author and editor of books and articles in philosophy of law, ethics, scientific integrity, and technology, including work on AI, blockchain governance, and institutional reasoning.
View publications on Google ScholarResearch Programs & Tools
My research is organized around a small number of integrated programs. Each addresses a different layer of normative, legal, and institutional structure, from ethical obligation to formal legal reasoning and ontology.
Structural Ontology of the Law
A formal ontology of legal systems grounded in roles, authority, recognition, obligation, contradiction, and repair. This project treats law as an architectural structure rather than a mere system of rules.
Explore the Structural Ontology of the Law →The Geometry of the Good
A relational ontology of ethics that models moral obligation as a structured field shaped by recognition, directedness, contradiction, and repair, rather than as a set of abstract norms.
Explore The Geometry of the Good →IRAC+
A structurally grounded extension of IRAC that integrates legal ontology, contradiction diagnostics, and research guidance. IRAC+ makes the architecture of legal reasoning explicit and teachable.
Explore IRAC+ →BFO / OWL Ontology Tools
Web-based tools for creating, testing, and validating ontologies grounded in Basic Formal Ontology (BFO), with applications to law, ethics, and institutional modeling.
Launch the BFO / OWL Tools →Contact
301 YMCA Building
College Station, TX 77840
drkoepsell@tamu.edu