Public Philosophy

Events

Drinking Coffee, Thinking Coffee (2019)

In Drinking Coffee, Thinking Coffee, I collaborated with Edinburgh-based specialty coffee company Artisan Roast to run  a series of events exploring philosophy through coffee-tasting. The first session drew on research on self-knowledge and reasoning to explore the following questions: why do we like one cup of coffee over another (and for that matter, why do we think and act in the ways that we do)? And can we know this? As expert baristas, psychologists, and everyday experience confirms, we’re unaware of many of the factors that influence us. Participants put this into practice!  We sampled a batch brew four times while changing various things: the cup colour and shape, lighting conditions, and general surroundings. Even though the coffee itself was the same, everyone had a favourite as a result of these other unconscious influences.  This might seem surprising: we can easily learn which coffees we like, but why we like them is another story!

Writing

I discuss my (2018) paper 'Confabulation and Rational Requirements for Self-Knowledge' here at the Imperfect Cognitions blog.