University of Sheffield
Department of Philosophy
PhD, 2003
Sheffield, South Yorkshire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
  •  58
    The Cambridge Handbook of Artificial Intelligence (edited book)
    with William M. Ramsey
    Cambridge University Press. 2014.
    Artificial intelligence, or AI, is a cross-disciplinary approach to understanding, modeling, and creating intelligence of various forms. It is a critical branch of cognitive science, and its influence is increasingly being felt in other areas, including the humanities. AI applications are transforming the way we interact with each other and with our environment, and work in artificially modeling intelligence is offering new insights into the human mind and revealing new forms mentality can take.…Read more
  •  56
    Dual systems and dual attitudes
    Mind and Society 11 (1): 41-51. 2012.
    It can be argued that dual-system theorists should adopt an action - based view of System 2 (S2), on which S2 reasoning is an intentional activity. It can also be argued that they should adopt a dual - attitude theory, on which the two systems have distinct sets of propositional attitudes. However, Peter Carruthers has argued that on the action-based view there are no S2 attitudes. This paper replies to Carruthers, proposing a view of S2 attitudes as virtual ones, which are partially realized in…Read more
  •  49
    Galileo's Real Error
    Journal of Consciousness Studies 28 (9-10): 141-146. 2021.
    Goff argues that Galileo erred in denying that sensory qualities are present in the physical world and that we should correct his error by supposing that all matter has an intrinsic conscious aspect. This paper argues that we should be open to another theoretical option. Galileo's real error, I argue, was not about the location of sensory qualities, but about their very existence. Like most people, Galileo assumed that sensory qualities are instantiated somewhere. I argue that this is a theoreti…Read more
  •  49
    What Is It Like To Be A Bot?
    Philosophy Now 126 56-58. 2018.
  •  47
    Adaptive misbelief or judicious pragmatic acceptance?
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32 (6): 520. 2009.
    This commentary highlights the distinction between belief and pragmatic acceptance, and asks whether the positive illusions discussed in section 13 of the target article may be judicious pragmatic acceptances rather than adaptive misbeliefs. I discuss the characteristics of pragmatic acceptance and make suggestions about how to determine whether positive illusions are attitudes of this type
  •  47
    Soul Dust: The Magic of Consciousness
    Philosophical Quarterly 64 (255): 338-340. 2014.
  •  45
    The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Science (edited book)
    with William Ramsey
    Cambridge University Press. 2012.
    Cognitive science is a cross-disciplinary enterprise devoted to understanding the nature of the mind. In recent years, investigators in philosophy, psychology, the neurosciences, artificial intelligence, and a host of other disciplines have come to appreciate how much they can learn from one another about the various dimensions of cognition. The result has been the emergence of one of the most exciting and fruitful areas of inter-disciplinary research in the history of science. This volume of or…Read more
  •  44
    Conscious thinking, acceptance, and self-deception
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34 (1): 20-21. 2011.
    This commentary describes another variety of self-deception, highly relevant to von Hippel & Trivers's (VH&T's) project. Drawing on dual-process theories, I propose that conscious thinking is a voluntary activity motivated by metacognitive attitudes, and that our choice of reasoning strategies and premises may be biased by unconscious desires to self-deceive. Such biased reasoning could facilitate interpersonal deception, in line with VH&T's view
  •  35
    The Lure of the Cartesian Sideshow
    The Philosophers' Magazine 88 69-74. 2020.
  •  34
    In Two Minds: Dual Processes and Beyond (edited book)
    with Jonathan St B. T. Evans
    Oxford University Press. 2009.
    This book explores the idea that we have two minds - one automatic, unconscious, and fast, the other controlled, conscious, and slow. It brings together leading researchers on dual-process theory to summarize the state of the art highlight key issues, present different perspectives, and provide a stimulus to further work.
  •  30
    Toward dual-process theory 3.0
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 46. 2023.
    This commentary is sympathetic to De Neys's revision of dual-process theory but argues for a modification to his position on exclusivity and proposes a bold further revision, envisaging a dual-process theory 3.0, in which system 1 not only initiates system 2 thinking but generates and sustains it as well.
  •  29
    Reasoning, argumentation, and cognition
    Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34 (2): 79-80. 2011.
    This commentary does three things. First, it offers further support for the view that explicit reasoning evolved for public argumentation. Second, it suggests that promoting effective communication may not be the only, or even the main, function of public argumentation. Third, it argues that the data Mercier and Sperber (M&S) cite are compatible with the view that reasoning has subsequently been co-opted to play a role in individual cognition
  •  25
    Mind - by Eric Matthews
    Philosophical Books 48 (2): 185-187. 2007.
    A review of Eric Matthews' *Mind: Key Concepts in Philosophy* (Bloomsbury 2005).
  •  24
    In Two Minds: Dual Processes and Beyond (edited book)
    with Jonathan St B. T. Evans
    Oxford University Press. 2009.
    This book explores the idea that we have two minds - automatic, unconscious, and fast, the other controlled, conscious, and slow. In recent years there has been great interest in so-called dual-process theories of reasoning and rationality. According to such theories, there are two distinct systems underlying human reasoning - an evolutionarily old system that is associative, automatic, unconscious, parallel, and fast, and a more recent, distinctively human system that is rule-based, controlled,…Read more
  •  19
    This book deals with the nature of consciousness. Many philosophers and psychologists today believe that the mind is a physical phenomenon, whose processes can be explained in scientific terms. Consciousness presents the biggest challenge to this view. Can the physical sciences really explain the nature of conscious experience—the way it feels to have a throbbing headache, or see a sunset, or smell freshly ground coffee? Or is there more to these experiences than a physical account can ever capt…Read more
  •  17
    The duality of mind: an historical perspective
    with Jsbt Evans
    In Keith Frankish & Jonathan St B. T. Evans (eds.), In Two Minds: Dual Processes and Beyond, Oxford University Press. 2009.
  •  13
    Technology and the Human Minds
    In Inês Hipólito, Robert William Clowes & Klaus Gärtner (eds.), The Mind-Technology Problem : Investigating Minds, Selves and 21st Century Artefacts, Springer Verlag. pp. 65-82. 2021.
    According to dual-process theory, human cognition is supported by two distinct types of processing, one fast, automatic, and unconscious, the other slower, controlled, and conscious. These processes are sometimes said to constitute two minds – an intuitive old mind, which is evolutionarily ancient and composed of specialized subsystems, and a reflective new mind, which is distinctively human and the source of general intelligence. This theory has far-reaching consequences, and it means that rese…Read more
  •  1
    Consciousness: The Basics
    Routledge. 2019.
  • Review of Consciousness in Action, by Susan Hurley (review)
    Mind 115 156-9. 2006.
    Questions about the relation between mind and world have long occupied philosophers of mind. In _Consciousness in Action_ Susan Hurley invites us to adopt a ninety-degree shift and consider the relation between perception and action. The central theme of the book is an attack on what Hurley dubs the _Input-Output Picture_ of perception and actionthe picture of perceptions as sensory inputs to the cognitive system and intentions as motor outputs from it, with the mind occupying the buffer zone in…Read more
  • In Two Minds: Dual Processes and Beyond
    with Jonathan St Evans
    Critica 42 (125): 104-114. 2010.
  • Inner speech and outer thought
    In Peter Langland-Hassan & Agustín Vicente (eds.), Inner Speech: New Voices, Oxford University Press. 2018.