Dr. Coetsee writes and teaches in the areas of social and political philosophy. She examines how citizens should navigate important political disagreements, and focuses in particular on the obligations that pertain to religious citizens when they engage with secular interlocutors. Are we obligated to reconsider our controversial beliefs in the face of political disagreement? When and to what extent must we empathize with those who hold opposing, perhaps problematic, views?  Should laws be supported by justifications that citizens from a variety of religious and philosophical worldviews can reasonably be expected to accept? Dr. Coetsee’s inquiries about these questions lead her to do research in the philosophy of religion, epistemology, and moral psychology. She is also interested in the duties democratic societies have to engage with illiberal citizens, and in Islamic ethics and political philosophy.

Dr. Coetsee’s articles appear in variety of journals, including Oxford Studies in Metaethics, Philosophy and Social Criticism, Islamic Law and Society, and the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion. She is under contract with Routledge to publish Does Faith Belong in Politics? Religious Participation in Pluralistic Polities. 

She joined the Department of Philosophy in 2023. 

AREAS OF Expertise

• Religion and politics
• Social and political philosophy
• Political epistemology
• Philosophy of religion

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., philosophy, Rutgers University, 2018
• M.A., religious studies, Rutgers University, 2019
• M.A., philosophy, Stanford University, 2011
• B.A., philosophy and religious studies, Stanford University, 2010

HONORS, GRANTS & AWARDS

• “Religion and Democracy,” Notre Dame University Center for Philosophy of Religion research fellowship, 2024-2025

Selected Publications

• “Against Insular Political Liberalism: Sayyid Qutb, Illiberal Islam, and the Forceless Force of the Better Argument,” Philosophy and Social Criticism, forthcoming (online first here).
• “On the Reasonability of Reasoning with the Religious Unreasonable,” Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 2023
• “The Problem of Evil and the Pauline Principle: Consent, Logical Constraints, and Free Will,” Religions, 2023
• “The Moral Duty Against Dogmatism,” Journal of Ethics, 2022
• “Consensus, Convergence, and Covid-19: The Role of Religion in Leaders’ Responses to Covid-19,” Leadership, 2022
• “The Phenomenal Appreciation of Reasons,” Oxford Studies in Metaethics, 2020

View all of Dr. Coetsee’s publications

Outside the College

In her free time, Dr. Coetsee enjoys reading theology, participating in church activities, running at Lake Michigan beaches, and playing flute and piano.