Academic Employment
Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Humanities, University of Texas at Arlington
(2023-present)
Postdoctoral Associate, Department of Philosophy, New York University
(2019-2023)
Postdoctoral Researcher, Institut für Philosophie II, Ruhr-Universität Bochum
(2017-2019)
Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Philosophy, Australian National University
(2015–17)
Education
Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Toronto
(Dissertation: Combining Minds: A Defence of the Possibility of Experiential Combination; Supervisors: William Seager, Jessica Wilson; Readers: Benj Hellie, Diana Raffman; 2015)
B.A., Philosophy and Psychology, Magdalen College, University of Oxford
(2009)
Areas of Specialisation Philosophy of mind, Meta-ethics
Areas of Competence Metaphysics, Epistemology, Social and political philosophy, Philosophy of gender and sexuality
Published Books
2019. Combining Minds: How to Think About Composite Subjectivity. Oxford University Press.
Books Under Contract
Empathic Reason: Imagination, Morality, and the Minds of Others. Oxford University Press.
Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction. Routledge.
Published Papers
2023. “Illusionism and Panpsychism.” (Klēsis, https://www.revue-klesis.org/)
2022. “No Such Thing as Too Many Minds.” Australasian Journal of Philosophy. https://doi.org/10.1080/00048402.2022.2084758
2022. “Sentientism, Motivation, and Philosophical Vulcans.” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/papq.12420
2022. “Longings in Limbo: A New Defence of I-Desires.” Erkenntnis. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-021-00505-7
2022. “Dennettian Panpsychism: Multiple Drafts, All of Them Conscious.” Acta Analytica 37: 323–340.
2021. “Imagine if They Did That to You! The Complexity of Empathy.” In Epistemic Uses of Imagination, eds. Amy Kind and Christopher Badura. Routledge: 279-297.
2021. “Is Panpsychism at Odds with Science?” Journal of Consciousness Studies 28 (9-10): 116-128.
2020. “Consciousness, Revelation, and Confusion: Are Constitutive Panpsychists Hoist by Their Own Petard?” Dialectica. 74 (1): 59-90.
2020. “Can We Sum Subjects? Evaluating Panpsychism’s Hard Problem.” In The Routledge Handbook of Panpsychism, ed. William Seager. Routledge: 245-258.
2019. (co-authored with Jed Buchanan) “Panpsychism, Intuitions, and the Great Chain of Being.” Philosophical Studies. 176 (11): 2991-3017.
2019. Review of Compassionate Moral Realism, Colin Marshall, Australasian Journal of Philosophy 97 (4): 839-842.
2018. (co-authored with Judith Martens) “Implicit Coordination: Acting Quasi-Jointly on Implicit Shared Intentions.” Journal of Social Ontology 4 (2): 93–120.
2018. “Why Imagining Requires Content: a Reply to a Reply to an Objection to Radical Enactive Cognition.” Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 7: 246–254.
2018. (co-authored with Krzysztof Dołęga and Tobias Schlicht) “Introduction”, special issue on “Enactivism, Representationalism, and Predictive Processing”, Philosophical Explorations, 21:2, 179-186.
2018. “Seeing the Invisible: How to Perceive, Infer, and Imagine Other Minds.” Erkenntnis 83 (2): 205–229.
2018. “The Compatibility of the Structure-and-Dynamics Argument and Phenomenal Functionalism about Space.” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 99(1): 44–52.
2018. Review of Panpsychism: Contemporary Perspectives, Godehard Brüntrup and Ludwig Jaskolla (eds.), Dialogue 57 (3): 639-641.
2017. “Rational Agency without Self-Knowledge: Could ‘We’ Replace ‘I’?” Dialectica 71 (1):3–33.
2016. “The Unity of Consciousness, Within and Between Subjects.” Philosophical Studies 173(12): 3199–3221.
2014. “What Are the Dimensions of the Conscious Field?” Journal of Consciousness Studies 21 (17): 88–104.
2014. “Phenomenal Blending and the Palette Problem.” Thought: A Journal of Philosophy 3:59–70.
2011. “There Is No Biotic Community.” Environmental Philosophy 8 (2):69–94.
Papers Forthcoming or Invited
“Imagination, Creativity, and Gender” (Invited for inclusion A. Kind and J. Langkau (eds.) Oxford Handbook of Imagination and Creativity)
“Extended Simulation and Gender-Subjectivity.” (Invited for a special issue at Philosophical Explorations)
“When Does Thinking Become Communication? Humans, Artificial Intelligence, and Porous Minds” (Invited for inclusion in R. Sterken and H. Cappelen (eds.) Communication with AI: Philosophical Perspectives)
“In Defence of Phenomenal Sharing.” (Co-authored with Philip Goff; Forthcoming in The Phenomenology of Self-Awareness and Conscious Subjects, eds. by Julien Bugnon, Martine Nida-Rümelin, and Donnchadh O’Conaill. Routledge.)
“Eusociality and Combinationism: What Is It Like to Be a Hivemind?” (Invited for inclusion in A. Fonseca (ed.) Are Ant Colonies Conscious?)
Awards and Grants
Best Paper Award, German Analytic Philosophy Society (for How Can Imagination Justify Action?, 2018)
International Social Ontology Society Essay Prize for Junior Scholars (for Implicit Coordination: Acting Quasi-Jointly on Implicit Shared Intentions, 2018)
David Savan Dissertation Prize, Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto (for Combining Minds, 2015)
Student Essay Prize, Canadian Philosophical Association (for ‘The Unity of Consciousness, Within Subjects and Between Subjects’, 2014)
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, Government of Ontario (2011–12)
Ralph Walker Prize in philosophy, Magdalen College, University of Oxford (2007–8)
Talks
“The Varieties of (Un)Boundedness”, Is Consciousness Fundamental? Marist College (2023)
“Anti-Nesting and Anty Nesting: Why Eusocial Insect Colonies Are Probably Conscious", Departmental Seminar, Southern Methodist University (2023), Departmental Seminar, Dalhousie University (2023)
“How to Count Subjects of Experience”, Meeting on the Study of the Split-Brain, Amsterdam (2022)
“Simulation, Imagination, and Recruitment", 3rd Conference (Online/Virtual) for Imagination Domination (2022)
How does it feel? – Interpersonal Understanding and Affective Empathy, University of Duisberg-Essen (2022)
“Combining Minds in Spinoza’s Animate Cosmos”, APA, Eastern Division Meeting, Baltimore (2022), Departmental Seminar, Marist College (2022)
“Combination Problems and Combination Solutions”, Prospects and Perils of the Combination Problem [Online] (2022)
“Gendering Violence and Consent”, Departmental Seminar, Royal Holloway University (2021)
“In Defence of Problematic Faves: Villains, Vices, and Imaginative Engagement with Evil” Cogweirdo, Cogtweeto Workshop Series [Online] (2021)
“Dennettian Panpsychism: Multiple Drafts, All of Them Conscious.” Departmental Seminar, New York University (2021)
“Imaginative Attitudes and Mental Models: A Critique of Langland-Hassan’s Interpretation of the Johnson-Laird-Byrne Account” Science and Philosophy of the Imagination, University of Bristol (2021)
“What Kind of Experience Could Plants Have?” Brain and Mind Webinar, Sharif University (2021)
“Gendering Before Gender” Minorities and Philosophy Flash Talk (2021)
“In Defence of Phenomenal Sharing.” Departmental Seminar, New York University (2020)
“What is it like to be an Ant Colony?” Departmental Seminar, City University of New York (2020)
“Imagine if They Did That to You! Self-Reference in Empathy and Fiction.” Departmental Seminar, New York University (2019)
“Intentions to Imagine as Cashing-Out Thoughts.” Phenomenal Intentionality, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2019)
“Experiential Imagining is not Self-Representing.” Fiction, Imagination, and Epistemology, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2019)
“Why I Am Not a Cosmopsychist (or am I?).” The Science of Consciousness, Interlaken (2019)
“Mind-Reading, Behaviour-Reading, and Something In-Between.” 2nd Bochum ECR Workshop in Philosophy of Mind and of Cognitive Science, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2019)
“Knowing How It Feels and Feeling It: Compassion, Empathy, and Epistemology.” The Science of Consciousness, Interlaken (2019), Colloquium Talk, University of Osnabrück (2019)
“How can Imagination Justify Action?” German Society for Analytic Philosophy, University of Cologne (2018)
“Implicit Coordination: Acting Quasi-Jointly on Shared Implicit Intentions.” (co-presented with Judith Martens), Layers of Collective Intentionality, University of Vienna (2018), 3rd Cork Annual Workshop on Social Agency, University College Cork (2018)
“Sympathetic Imagination, Conceivability Arguments, and the Metaphysics of Mind.”, First Bochum Graduate Workshop in Philosophy of Mind and of Cognitive Science, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2018)
“Indeterminately Offline States: A New Approach to the Problem of Imaginative Desire”, Canadian Philosophical Association, Université du Québec à Montréal (2018)
“Low-level simulation, unconscious inference, and implicit belief: how can mental-state types cross levels?”, Recent Developments in Philosophy and Cognitive Science, Rutgers (2018)
“Inert and Unfolded Imaginings: Towards a Better Simulationist Account of the Imagination-Supposition Distinction”, Philosophy of Imagination, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2018)
“Imagery, Models, and Accuracy Conditions: A reply to a reply to a criticism of Radical Enactive Cognition", Workshop on Evolving Enactivism, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2017)
“Revelation and Structural Mismatch.” Russellian Monism: Time for the Details, Central European University (2017)
“Tracking vs. Understanding: A Fourth Question about Social Cognition.” Rudolf Carnap Lectures, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2017)
“Revelation, Confusion, and Panpsychism: How much does experience reveal?” Departmental Talk, Australian National University (2017)
“Octopuses, split-brains, and the universe: how unified must consciousness be?” Departmental Talk, York University (2017)
“Panpsychism, Intuitions, and the Great Chain of Being”, Departmental Talk, Monash University (2016), Departmental Talk, Jawaharlal Nehru University (2016), Departmental Talk, University of Toronto (2016), Departmental Talk, University of Manitoba (2016)
“Joint Mentality and Quasi-agential Groups”, Minds Online Conference, BrainsBlog (2016)
“Putting Minds Together and Pulling Minds Apart: The Relatively Mild Impact of Cosmopsychism on Panpsychism’s Combination Problem”, Departmental Talk, University of Western Australia (2016)
“Rationalism, Sympathy, and Covert Solipsists”, Departmental Talk, Charles Sturt University (2016), Departmental Talk, Australian National University (2015)
“Panpsychism’s Hard Problem: Combination and Subjects", Toward a Science of Consciousness, University of Helsinki (2015)
“Amodal Mind-Perception: Combining Perceptualism and Inferentialism," Minds Online Virtual Conference, Brains Blog (2015), Canadian Philosophical Association, University of Ottawa (2015), Midsouth Philosophy Conference, Rhodes College, Memphis (2015)
“Fusing, Bonding, and Sharing: Russellian Monism and the Combination Problem", Canadian Philosophical Association, University of Ottawa (2015)
“Rational Agency without Self-Awareness: Could ‘We’ Replace ‘I’?”, Society for Exact Philosophy, McMaster University, Hamilton (2015), South Carolina Philosophical Association, Wofford College (2015)
“The Unity of Consciousness, Within Subjects and Between Subjects", Canadian Philosophical Association, Brock University (2014)
“Phenomenal Blending and the Palette Problem", APA, Central Division Meeting, Chicago (2014)
“The Metaphysics of Gestalt Perception", Western Canadian Philosophical Association, University of Winnipeg (2013)
“Mental Combination and Spatial Combination", Canadian Philosophical Association, University of Victoria (2013)
“Complexity and Power: Towards a Spinozistic Theory of Consciousness", 2nd Annual Pittsburgh Area Philosophy Colloquium, Washington and Jefferson College (2011)
“Consciousness in Spinoza: What Is It Like to Be God?", 62nd Annual Northwest Philosophy Conference, Willamette University (2010)
“Relationships as a Constitutive Element of Morality", 36th Conference on Value Enquiry, Southern Illinois U. Carbondale (2010)
Service
Journal Referee: Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Dialogue, Synthese, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, American Philosophical Quarterly, Res Philosophica, Cogent Arts and Humanities, Philosophical Psychology, Acta Analytica, Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, Erkenntnis, Topoi, The Southern Journal of Philosophy, Neuroscience of Consciousness, Journal of the American Philosophical Association, Journal of Social Philosophy, Disputatio, Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, Sophia, Philosophers’ Imprint, Ergo, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Analysis, Mind and Language, Biological Theory, Theoria,
Book Reviewer: Oxford University Press, Routledge, Polity Press, University of Chicago Press, Princeton University Press.
Organising Committee Member: Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, 26th Annual Meetingm New York University (2023)
Co-Organiser, Talk: Are Large Language Models Sentient? Mind, Ethics, and Policy Program, New York University (2022)
Co-Organiser, Debate: Is Memory Continuous with Imagination, Center for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, New York University (2022)
Co-Organiser, A New Hope? Optimism and the Good Life, CogTweeto Workshop Series (2022)
Organiser, Simulation and Empathy Reading Group at New York University (2021)
Co-Organiser, Workshop: Interpretable AI and Theories of Content, Centre for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, New York University (2020)
Co-Organiser, Workshop: Consciousness and Models of Quantum Mechanics, Centre for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, New York University (2019)
Co-Organiser, Workshop on First-Order and Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness, Centre for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, New York University (2019)
Co-Organiser, Debate: Is Activity in Prefrontal Cortex Important for Sensory Consciousness? Centre for Mind, Brain, and Consciousness, New York University (2019)
Co-Organiser, Second Bochum ECR Workshop in Philosophy of Mind and of Cognitive Science, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2019)
Co-Organiser, Colloquium: New Work on Consciousness and Cognition, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2019)
Guest Editor, Philosophical Explorations Special Issue: Enactivism, Representationalism, and Predictive Processing (2018)
Co-Organiser, First Bochum Graduate Workshop in Philosophy of Mind and of Cognitive Science, Ruhr-Universität Bochum (2018)
Supervisor, Kioloa Graduate Retreat, Australian National University (2016)
Convener, Thursday Seminar series at the Australian National University (2016)
Organiser, Collective Mentality Reading Group at the Australian National University (2016)
Organiser, Combination Problem Reading Group at the Australian National University (2015)
Video-maker and reviewer, Wireless Philosophy project (http://www.wi-phi.com/), (January 2015 to July 2016)
Organiser, Graduate Forum at University of Toronto (2012-2014)
Organiser, Centre for Ethics Reading Group at the Centre for Ethics, University of Toronto (2010–13)
Supervision
Manrah Bhandel, MPhil Thesis (External), King's College London (2023)
Gavin Perri, Honours Thesis (Supervisor), NYU (2022)
Liam Lieblein, MA Thesis (Second Reader), NYU (2022)
Luis Guillermo Castro Martin, PhD Thesis (External Examiner), University of Genoa (2021)
Erick Llamas, PhD Thesis (External Examiner), ANU (2020)
Jed Buchanan, Honours Thesis (Supervisor), ANU (2016)
Teaching
As instructor:
Introduction to Philosophy, UTA, Autumn 2023
Introduction to Neuroethics, NYU, Spring 2023
Introduction to Neuroethics, NYU, Spring 2022
Brains, Minds, and Society, NYU, Summer 2020
Philosophy, Fiction, and Narrative, RUB, Summer 2019
Philosophy of Psychology, ANU, Autumn 2016
Persons, Minds, Bodies, University of Toronto, Summer 2015
(co-taught with Sean Smith)
The Rationalists, University of Toronto, Spring 2015
Persons, Minds, Bodies, University of Toronto, Summer 2014
(co-taught with Mark Fortney)
As tutorial leader:
Introduction to Philosophy, Fall 2013 to Spring 2014
Persons, Minds, Bodies, Fall 2011, Spring 2013, Fall 2014
Law and Morality, Spring 2011
Introduction to Political Philosophy, Fall 2010, Fall 2012