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266Kantian Animal Moral Psychology: Empirical Markers for Animal MoralityErgo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy. forthcoming.I argue that a Kantian inspired investigation into animal morality is both a plausible and coherent research program. To show that such an investigation is possible, I argue that philosophers, such as Korsgaard, who argue that reason demarcates nonhuman animals from the domain of moral beings are equivocating in their use of the term ‘rationality’. Kant certainly regards rationality as necessary for moral responsibility from a practical standpoint, but his distinction between the noumenal and ph…Read more
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120Human Development and the Extended Mind: Review of Becoming Human: The Ontogenesis, Metaphysics, and Expression of Human Emotionality by Jennifer Greenwood (review)Journal of Evaluation in Clinical Practice 23 (5): 1092-1093. 2017.Jennifer Greenwood's Becoming Human: The Ontogenesis, Metaphysics, and Expression of Human Emotionality is an innovative exploration of the empirical literature on human development and its implications for the extended mind debate. Greenwood argues that an examination of the emotional and linguistic development of children, especially the unique relationship between mothers and infants, supports transcranialism. I summarize her argument and then point to some of the strengths and weaknesses of …Read more
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288Skeptical Symmetry: A Wittgensteinian Approach to Scientific ReasoningGnosis 14 (2): 14-19. 2015.Many philosophers have wrongly assumed that there is an asymmetry between the problem of induction and the logocentric predicament (the justification of deductive inferences). This paper will show that the demand for justification, for the very inferences that are required for justification, is deeply problematic. Using a Wittgensteinian approach, I will argue that justification has an internal relation with deductive and inductive inferences. For Wittgenstein, two concepts are internally relate…Read more
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321Review of Damn Great Empires!: William James and Politics of Pragmatism by Alexander Livingston (review)William James Studies 15 94-101. 2019.Alexander Livingston’s fascinating examination of William James’ work in Damn Great Empires!: William James and the Politics of Pragmatism argues that “William James was an important and innovative theorist of politics.” Livingston claims that James’ anti-imperialist arguments in the letters, editorials, and speeches collected in the Nachlass are an important part of James’ philosophical corpus that provides a critical lens through which the rest of James’ work can be fruitfully read. Though Liv…Read more
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1028What Frege asked Alex the Parrot: Inferentialism, Number Concepts, and Animal CognitionPhilosophical Psychology 33 (2): 206-227. 2019.While there has been significant philosophical debate on whether nonlinguistic animals can possess conceptual capabilities, less time has been devoted to considering 'talking' animals, such as parrots. When they are discussed, their capabilities are often downplayed as mere mimicry. The most explicit philosophical example of this can be seen in Brandom's frequent comparisons of parrots and thermostats. Brandom argues that because parrots (like thermostats) cannot grasp the implicit inferential c…Read more
Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
Areas of Specialization
Animal Cognition |
Philosophy of Cognitive Science |
Philosophy of Psychology |
Neural Networks and Connectionism |