Curriculum Vitae
AOS: Epistemology, Philosophy of Science, History of 20th Century Analytic Philosophy (esp. Bertrand Russell)
AOC: Metaphysics, Social-Political Philosophy, Ethics (esp. normative and applied)
ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
University of Regina Sessional Instructor 2017 – Present
McMaster University Visiting Professor Winter 2018
University of Rochester Instructor, Writing Speaking, and Argument 2014 – 2016
University of Rochester Adjunct Professor, Philosophy Summer 2015
EDUCATION
MPA In Progress Public Admin Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
PhD 2018 Philosophy University of Rochester
MA 2011 Philosophy McMaster University
BA (Hon) 2009 Philosophy University of Regina
DISSERTATION
Reflective Equilibrium and Reasonable Disagreement
Defense: 2018
Richard Feldman, Advisor;
Earl Conee, Ed Wierenga, committee members.
PUBLICATIONS
Articles
“Epistemic Progress despite Systematic Disagreement.” Epistemology and Philosophy of Science, Special Issue: Metaphilosophy, Vol. 56, No. 2, 2019: 77 – 94.
“A Case for Epistemic Agency.” Logos and Episteme, Volume 6, Issue 4, 2015, 449 – 474.
“Getting Off the Wheel,” (with Patrick Bondy). Metaphilosophy, Volume 46, Issue 4-5, October 2015, 620 – 637.
Book Chapters
“Public Opinion, Democratic Legitimacy, and Epistemic Compromise.” Science, Freedom, and Democracy. Edited by Péter Hartl and Ádam Tamás Tuboly. Routledge, 2021, 158 - 78.
“Why Bertrand Russell is Not a Christian (or Muslim or Hindu or…).” The Cambridge History of Atheism, Michael Ruse (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021.
“Russell’s Bridge,” (with Nicholas Griffin). The Bloomsbury Companion to Bertrand Russell, Russell Wahl (ed.). London: Bloomsbury, 2018: 286 - 311.
Reference Entries
“Epistemic Defeat” (with Patrick Bondy). Oxford Bibliographies Online: Philosophy, 2019, doi: 10.1093/obo/9780195396577-0231.
Reviews
“David Christensen and Jennifer Lackey’s The Epistemology of Disagreement. New Essays,” Philosophy in Review, Spring 2015.
“Defining Russell: A Review of Rosalind Carey and John Ongley’s Historical Dictionary of Bertrand Russell’s Philosophy.” Russell: the Journal of Bertrand Russell Studies, vol. 30, no.2. Winter 2010-11, pp. 173 – 8.
VISITING FELLOWSHIPS
McMaster University: Visiting Professor in Bertrand Russell and the History of Early Analytic Philosophy, 2017 – 2018
REFEREED PRESENTATIONS
“Epistemic Anarchy and the Imperative for Epistemic Paternalism”
PPE Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA, March 12 – 14, 2020
“Public Opinion, Democratic Legitimacy, and Epistemic Compromise”
Science, Freedom, and Democracy Conference, The Hungarian Academy of Sciences Institute of Philosophy, July 8 – 9, 2019
“Philosophical Progress and the Scientific Ideal”
Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, May 26, 2018
“Reasonable Expert Disagreement”
Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, May 28, 2016
“Reflective Equilibrium and Reasonable Expert Disagreement in Psychiatry”
UC Irvine Medical Knowledge in a Social World Workshop, March 21 – 22, 2016
“Qualitative Justification and the Vagueness of ‘Knowledge’”
Canadian Philosophical Association, May 30 – June 3, 2015
“A Case for Epistemic Agency”
Cornell University Ethics of Belief Workshop, November 18, 2014
“Causation by Omission and Causal Judgments”
Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, June 2 - 4, 2013
“The Status of Quantum Mechanics in Russell’s Mature Philosophy”
Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, May 27 – 29, 2012
“From ‘The Maxim’ to ‘The Postulates’: The Role of Inference in Russell Scientific Philosophy”
Society for the Study of the History of Analytical Philosophy, May 24 – 26, 2012
American Philosophical Association, Central Division, February 16 – 19, 2012
“On the Experience and Passage of Time with Bertrand Russell”
Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, May 31, 2011
“Russell’s Compatibilist Theory of Time and Succession in Four Dimensions”
American Philosophical Association, Central Division, April 1, 2011
“Epistemic Robots and Doxastic Personalities”
Canadian Philosophical Association, May 30 – June 2, 2010
“Russell’s ‘The Limitations of Empiricism’”
American Philosophical Association, Central Division, February 17-20, 2010
INVITED TALKS
“Democracy Lost: Trust, Responsibility, and Fake News”
Philosophy Café, Regina, SK: January 21, 2019
“Russell’s Reflective Equilibrium”
Philosophy Speakers Series, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS: March 23, 2018
Philosophy Speaker Series, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON: March 9, 2018
“Scientific Expertise and Democratic Ideals”
The Rouge Forum 2016, St Mary’s University, Calgary, AB: May 28, 2016
“Wishful Thinking and the Potential for Lying to Oneself.”
The Philosopher’s Society, McMaster University: March, 2011
COMMENTARIES
Amanda Bryant’s “Why Care About Constraint: Theoretical Constraint as and Epistemic Good?” Western Canadian Philosophy Association, October, 13 – 15, 2017
Michael Hymer’s “Wittgenstein on Perception”
Canadian Philosophical Association, June 2 - 4, 2013
John Gianinni’s “Knowledge you Shouldn’t Act On.”
7th Biennial Rochester Graduate Epistemology Conference, October 20, 2012
Sean Morris’s “Quine and Russell on Naturalism: A Logical Approach.”
American Philosophical Association, Central Division, February 16 – 19, 2012
Iva Apostolova’s “Russell’s Two Theories of Memory.”
American Philosophical Association, Central Division, April 1, 2011
ACADEMIC HONOURS & AWARDS
Workshop on Digital Humanities, Social Epistemology, and Virtue Theory in a Post-truth society, Invited Participant, December 2017.
Value: $1,350
Payne 1st Yr. Outstanding Essay Prize (awarded to at most one student), 2011-12.
Value: $150.
Ontario Graduate Scholarship (declined), 2011 – 12.
Value: $15, 000
Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships: Master’s Scholarship, 2010 – 11.
Value $17, 500
Graduate Entrance Scholarship, McMaster University, 2009-2010.
Value $5000
Dean’s Honours List for Academic Achievement, University of Regina, 2009.
Dean’s Honours List for Academic Achievement, University of Regina, 2008.
TEACHING – FULL RESPONSIBILITY
PHIL 4/6D03: Metaphilosophical Issues in 20th Century Analytic Philosophy (McMaster)
An upper and graduate-level course covering intersecting meta-philosophical issues in early 20th Century analytic philosophy and their contemporary manifestations. The specific topics discussed in this course include Wittgensteinian quietism, different manifestations of philosophical naturalism, and the emergence of the quasi-empirical method known as reflective equilibrium, all in response to Pryrrhonian skeptical challenges to the potential philosophical knowledge.
PHIL 100: Introduction to Philosophy (Regina)
An introduction to a number of central topics in philosophy, including: epistemology, philosophy of mind, personal identity, normative and applied ethics, social-political philosophy, and the meaning of life. In addition to discussing these topics, an active application of philosophical methodology was introduced, including: logical and conceptual analysis, argumentation, and dialectical reasoning.
PHIL 150: Critical Thinking (Regina)
An introduction to the practice of rational reasoning, argumentation, and critical reading and writing.
PHL 101: Introduction to Philosophy (Rochester)
This course was taught during a four-week summer semester. Students were introduced to a variety of philosophical topics, with abridged primary readings in the following areas: epistemology, metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, ethics, politics, and the meaning of life
WRT 105: Science in a Democracy (Rochester)
WRT 105 is a college writing course offered by the Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program at the University of Rochester. This writing-intensive course is required for every student at the U of R and is meant to prepare them for college-level writing and thinking. Each instructor chooses the content theme for the course, using that content to then assist students in reaching the level of thinking expected of them for the remainder of their academic lives. The content in this offering focuses on the question: does expertise undermine the ideals of democracy, most notably considering scientific issues impacting social policy? In responding to this question, we consider works by Plato, Aristotle, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Rawls, Nozick, Popper, Kuhn, Lakatos, Longino, Kitcher, and Anderson. Also considered are contemporary popular science articles.
TEACHING – TEACHING ASSISSTANT
Moral Issues in Medicine
This course examined the following biomedical ethical issues: the professional-patient relationship, biomedical enhancement, biomedical research ethics, embryonic research and abortion, death and decisions regarding life-sustaining treatment, euthanasia and physician assisted suicide, genetics and reproduction, and social justice and healthcare policy.
Introduction to Philosophy
This course introduced students to a number of philosophical themes in metaphysics and epistemology, including: skepticism, the mind-body problem, the qualia problem,
Ethics
This course introduced and, through conceptual analysis, assessed numerous historical and contemporary versions of utilitarian, duty-based ethics, and virtue-based ethics.
Problems in Philosophy
This course, using both historical and contemporary sources, introduced students to central issues in the philosophy of religion, the philosophy of mind, freewill, and the meaning of life.
Biomedical Ethics
This course approached issues in biomedical ethics using traditional ethical theories as a means of assessing contemporary moral problems. The theories used were Aristotelian virtue ethics, Kantian deontology, Millian utilitarianism, Ross’s duty ethics, and feminist ethics.
Philosophy of Law
This course introduced students to contemporary moral issues in the philosophy of law, including: natural versus judicial law, human rights, the moral status of lawbreaking and unjust laws, and alternative theories of justice.
Social and Political Philosophy
From a predominantly historical perspective, this course introduced students to the liberal democratic tradition introduced in early-modern thought through to the introduction of communism in response to this tradition.
RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIP
Bertrand Russell Research Centre & McMaster University June – Dec., 2010
SERVICE
Referee: Synthese, Dialogue, Philosophical Papers, Topoi
Organizer, Bertrand Russell Society Session 2015 – 2016
American Philosophical Association, Central Division Meeting
Organizer, 8th Biennial Graduate Epistemology Conference Oct 24 – 5, 2014
University of Rochester
Member, Curriculum Committee Sept 2010–Aug 2011
Department of Philosophy, McMaster University
Member, Curriculum Review Committee Sept 2007–Apr 2008
Department of Philosophy and Classics, University of Regina
Member, Faculty of Arts Council Chamber Sept 2006 – Apr 2008
University of Regina
Student Representative to Department of Philosophy and Classics Sep 2006 – Apr 2008
University of Regina
President University of Regina Philosophy Student Society Jul 2006 – Apr 2007
University of Regina
SCHOLARLY MEMBERSHIPS
American Philosophical Association
Bertrand Russell Society
Canadian Philosophical Association
Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science
Society for the Study of the History of Analytic Philosophy
GRADUATE COURSES ATTENDED
Courses Taken in Epistemology
Collective Epistemology [Feldman]*
Peer Disagreement [Feldman]*
Pragmatic Encroachment and other topics [Conee]
Reflective Equilibrium and other topics [Conee]
Evidence and Fallibilism [Feldman]
Doxastic Voluntarism [Feldman]
Epistemic Justification [Conee]
Epistemology of Disagreement [Vorobej]
Courses Taken in Metaphysics, Science, and Mind
Universals, Properties, and Personal Identity [Conee]
Freewill [Feldman and Wierenga]
Causation [Weslake]
Contents of Perception [Weslake]
The Direction of Time [Weslake]
Vagueness [Caie]
Scientific Explanation and Scientific Laws [Weslake]*
The Flow of Time [Arthur]
Courses Taken in Value Theory
Social and Political Philosophy [Curren]
Utilitarianism and Global Poverty [Vorobej]
Courses Taken in the History of Philosophy
Topics in Ancient Philosophy [Modrak]
Descartes and the Materialist Turn [Garrett]
History of Analytic Philosophy [Griffin]
Kant: The Critique of the Power of Judgement [Sassen]
Leibniz’s Metaphysics [Arthur]*
Courses Taken in Language and Logic
Non-Classical Logic [Ney]
The Russellian Orthodoxy in the Theory of Reference [Sullivan]*
Other Graduate Program Requirements and Education
Writing Seminar: Epistemic Agency [Feldman]
Primary Examination: Epistemology [Conee and Feldman]
Secondary Examination: Philosophy of Time [Weslake and Ney]
Master’s Thesis: Bertrand Russell’s Theory of Perception (1927 – 1948)
[Griffin (advisor), Garrett and Blackwell (committee)]
Summer School: The Physics and Philosophy of Time (July 23 – 28, 2013)
This week-long summer school, hosted by Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and Université de Luasanne in the German Black Forrest, involved two daily lectures from invited speakers and a variety of afternoon-long seminars of the students’ choosing—I worked with L.A. Paul, focusing on the phenomenology of time. Additional speakers and seminar leaders included: Sheldon Goldstein, Tim Maudlin, Jennan Ishmael, Gordon Belot, Detlef Dürr, Michael Esfeld, Stephan Hartmann, and Christian Wüthrich.
REFERENCES
Academic
Richard Feldman
Interim President
University of Rochester
richard.feldman@rochester.edu
(585) 275-2121
Earl Conee
Professor
Department of Philosophy
University of Rochester
earl.conee@rochester.edu
(585) 275-8115
Nicholas Griffin
Professor, Canadian Research Chair
Department of Philosophy
Director
Bertrand Russell Research Center
McMaster University,
ngriffin@mcmaster.ca
(905) 525-9140, ext. 23469
Teaching
Deb Rossen-Knill
Director
Writing, Speaking, and Argument Program
University of Rochester
deb.rossen-knill@rochester.edu
(585) 273-3584