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10The Heart of the Matter explores the legacies of Ilyenkov and Vygotsky, two Russian thinkers who marshalled their passion for truth, enlightenment and independent thought to understand the human mind, not just for the sake of knowledge alone, but to help create the conditions in which human flourishing can become a reality for all. The book renders their theories intelligible against the dramatic social and historical background in which they lived and worked, bringing their ideas into dialogue …Read more
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16Ilyenkov and Vygotsky on imaginationStudies in East European Thought 1-22. forthcoming.This paper explores Ilyenkov’s conception of imagination as it is expressed in his writings on aesthetics and in his 1968 book Ob idolakh i idealakh (Of Idols and Ideals). Ilyenkov deemed imagination and creativity to be central to the character of distinctively human forms of mental activity. After examining the many different contexts in which Ilyenkov sees imagination at work—from the most basic operations of perception to the expression of artistic and scientific genius—I bring his ideas int…Read more
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Training, transformation and educationIn Anthony O'Hear (ed.), Mind, Self and Person, Cambridge University Press. 2015.
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98Thinking about reasons: themes from the philosophy of Jonathan Dancy (edited book)Oxford University Press. 2013.Thinking about Reasons collects fourteen new essays on ethics and the philosophy of action, inspired by the work of Jonathan Dancy—one of his generation's most influential moral philosophers.
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14Introduction to the suite: Symposium on Philip Kitcher’s The Main Enterprise of the World: Rethinking EducationJournal of Philosophy of Education 57 (2): 369-372. 2023.This paper introduces a suite of articles devoted to Philip Kitcher’s The Main Enterprise of the World: Rethinking Education (Oxford University Press, 2021). The suite opens with a paper by Kitcher, which presents the central themes of his important book. This is followed by an assessment of the work as whole by John White, and four commentaries discussing in detail various aspects of Kitcher’s position by Ben Kotzee (on science education), Alexis Gibbs (on arts education), Sheron Fraser-Burgess…Read more
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22Gareth Matthews on development and deficitJournal of Philosophy of Education 57 (2): 582-591. 2023.This paper argues that Gareth Matthews’ writing on developmental psychology is both a central part of his philosophical legacy and a contribution of enduring interest. Although he engages with figures, such as Piaget and Kohlberg, who are no longer as influential as they once were, his critique of the ‘deficit conception of childhood’ retains its relevance today. While the deficit model holds that any capacity, aptitude, virtue, or skill that a child possesses is a deficient version of the same …Read more
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10Wittgenstein and PragmatismIn Hans-Johann Glock & John Hyman (eds.), A Companion to Wittgenstein, Wiley-blackwell. 2017.The question of the affinity between Wittgenstein's philosophy and pragmatism is one that has been often discussed, usually by philosophers sympathetic to a broadly affirmative answer. Pragmatism came into being in 1867 in a reading group in Cambridge Massachusetts, the members of which included Peirce and James. Putnam observes that though the later Wittgenstein may not have been a pragmatist “in the strict sense”, he “shares a central, perhaps the central emphasis with pragmatism: the emphasis…Read more
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6Learning from OthersIn Ben Kotzee (ed.), Education and the Growth of Knowledge, Wiley. 2013-12-25.John McDowell begins his essay ‘Knowledge by Hearsay’ (1993) by describing two ways language matters to epistemology. The first is that, by understanding and accepting someone else's utterance, a person can acquire knowledge. This is what philosophers call ‘knowledge by testimony’. The second is that children acquire knowledge in the course of learning their first language—in acquiring language, a child inherits a conception of the world. In The Formation of Reason (2011), and my writings on Rus…Read more
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7Education Makes Us What We AreIn The Formation of Reason, Wiley‐blackwell. 2011.This chapter contains sections titled: A Residual Individualism Vygotsky's Legacy Reconciling Vygotsky and McDowell Personalism Final Thoughts on Education.
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7Exploring the Space of ReasonsIn The Formation of Reason, Wiley‐blackwell. 2011.This chapter contains sections titled: McDowell on the Space of Reasons Brandom's Inferentialism Ilyenkov on the Ideal Conclusion.
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7Freedom, Reflection and the Sources of NormativityIn The Formation of Reason, Wiley‐blackwell. 2011.This chapter contains sections titled: McDowell on Judgement Owens's Critique Defending Intellectual Freedom Freedom and the Sources of Normativity Sources of Normativity I: Practical Reasoning Sources of Normativity II: Theoretical Reasoning A McDowellian Response Conclusion.
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3Reason and Its Limits: Music, Mood and EducationIn The Formation of Reason, Wiley‐blackwell. 2011.This chapter contains sections titled: An Initial Response The Challenge Reconfigured Passivity Within Spontaneity Mood Mood, Salience and Shape Music Education Conclusion.
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3Self and OtherIn The Formation of Reason, Wiley‐blackwell. 2011.This chapter contains sections titled: Problems of Self and Other The Problem of Self and Other in One's Own Person Strawson on Persons Wiggins on Persons and Human Nature The Significance of Second Nature Further Positives Conclusion: Two Cautionary Notes.
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10Social ConstructionismIn The Formation of Reason, Wiley‐blackwell. 2011.This chapter contains sections titled: Social Constructionism Introduced The Social Construction of Reality Why Bother About Global Constructionism? Against Global Constructionism Matters Political The Social Construction of Mental States Why Mental States Are Not Socially Constructed The Social Construction of Psychological Categories Conclusion.
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5What Can Philosophy Tell Us About How History Made the Mind?In The Formation of Reason, Wiley‐blackwell. 2011.This chapter contains sections titled: What Role for Philosophy? Wittgenstein and Davidson Wittgenstein and Davidson Contrasted McDowell The Idea of Bildung Understanding the Bildungsprozess The Conceptual and the Practical Conclusion.
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5Evert van der Zweerde, Soviet Historiography of Philosophy. Istoriko-filosofskaja naukaStudies in East European Thought 51 (1): 79-83. 1999.
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1PrefaceJournal of Philosophy of Education 56 (5): 639-640. 2022.Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.
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The spirit of pragmatism in the quads of OxfordIn Cheryl Misak & Huw Price (eds.), The Practical Turn: Pragmatism in Britain in the Long Twentieth Century, Oup/ba. 2016.
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Mind, reason, and knowledgeIn Randall R. Curren (ed.), Handbook of philosophy of education, Routledge. 2023.
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Mind, reason, and knowledgeIn Randall R. Curren (ed.), Handbook of philosophy of education, Routledge. 2023.
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24Education for metaphysical animalsJournal of Philosophy of Education 56 (6). 2022.This essay explores the legacy of the four philosophers now often referred to as ‘The Wartime Quartet’: G.E.M. Anscombe, Iris Murdoch, Philippa Foot and Mary Midgley. The life and work of the four, who studied together in Oxford during the Second World War, is the subject of two recently published books, The Women Are Up to Something, by Benjamin Lipscomb, and Metaphysical Animals, by Clare Mac Cumhaill and Rachael Wiseman. The two books show us how Anscombe, Murdoch, Foot and Midgley became fri…Read more
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31Categorical Moral RequirementsKantian Journal 41 (1): 40-59. 2022.This paper defends the doctrine that moral requirements are categorical in nature. My point of departure is John McDowell’s 1978 essay, “Are Moral Requirements Hypothetical Imperatives?”, in which McDowell argues, against Philippa Foot, that moral reasons are not conditional upon agents’ desires and are, in a certain sense, inescapable. After expounding McDowell’s view, exploring his idea that moral requirements “silence” other considerations and discussing its particularist ethos, I address an …Read more
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17Evald Ilyenkov: Philosophy as the Science of ThoughtIn Marina F. Bykova, Michael N. Forster & Lina Steiner (eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Russian Thought, Springer Verlag. pp. 359-381. 2021.This chapter is devoted to the most influential and important Soviet philosopher of the post-Stalin era: Evald Vasilevich Ilyenkov. Ilyenkov burst on the scene in the early 1950s, arguing that Ilyenkov should be understood, not as a meta-science concerned to formulate the most general laws of being, but as “the science of thought.” The chapter explores how Ilyenkov developed this idea, beginning with the controversial Ilyenkov-Korovikov theses and his unpublished “phantasmagoria,” “The Cosmology…Read more
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59Kant on education and improvement: Themes and problemsJournal of Philosophy of Education 55 (6): 909-920. 2021.Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.
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43Human nature, reason and moralityJournal of Philosophy of Education 55 (6): 1029-1044. 2021.Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.
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10Après le déluge: Teaching and learning in the age of COVIDJournal of Philosophy of Education 55 (4-5): 621-632. 2021.Journal of Philosophy of Education, EarlyView.
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Areas of Specialization
3 more
Epistemology |
Philosophy of Action |
Philosophy of Mind |
Meta-Ethics |
20th Century Philosophy |
Russian Philosophy |
The Nature of Education |
Moral Education |