I am Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Siena College, where I am also Director of the Cognitive Science program. My work is at the intersection of epistemology and cognitive science, and focuses primarily on philosophical cognition, or how ours minds work when we think about philosophical issues. I have worked on the instability of philosophical intuition and its methodological consequences, the role that epistemic egocentrism plays in folk knowledge attribution, the role that case structural features and framing effects play in the epistemology of disagreement, and the role that cognitive dispositions and situational factors play in shaping how we respond to cognitive diversity. I also have broad interests in cognitive neuroscience, especially what lessons work at the intersection of ethics and cognitive neuroscience might have for the cognitive neuroscience of epistemology. I published my first book, Experimental Philosophy: An Introduction, in the summer of 2012, and am currently working on a second book on the philosophy and cognitive science of disagreement, funded by a research grant from the Templeton Foundation Science of Intellectual Humility Project.
Degree |
Program |
University |
Ph.D. |
Philosophy |
Indiana University |
M.A. |
Philosophy |
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |
B.A. |
Philosophy and English Literature |
Marquette University |
My Professional Experience
Year |
Title |
University |
2014 - Now |
Associate Professor |
Siena College |
2008 - 2014 |
Assistant Professor |
Siena College |
Articles & Book Reviews
- A Short Course in Experimental Philosophy
Teaching Philosophy
2014 - Putting the Trolley in Order: Experimental Philosophy and the Loop Case
Philosophical Psychology
2012 - Restrictionism & Reflection: Challenge Deflected, or Simply Redirected?
The Monist
2012 - Accentuate the Negative
Review of Philosophy and Psychology
2010 - Are Philosophers Expert Intuiters?
Philosophical Psychology
2010 - Competence: What's In? What's Out? Who Knows?
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
2010 - Is Experimental Philosophy Philosophically Significant?
Philosophical Psychology
2010 - The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions: Running Hot and Cold on Truetemp
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
2008 - Analytic Epistemology and Experimental Philosophy
Philosophy Compass
2007 - Review of Marc Lange, Natural Laws in Scientific Practice
Philosophy of Science
2004
Awards & Distinctions
- Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development Summer Curriculum Diversification Fellowship, Siena College, Summer 2010
Category: Other
Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development, 2010 - Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development - Summer Research Fellowship, Siena College, Summer 2009.
Category: Other
Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development, 2009 - Louise B. McNutt Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Academic Year 2007-2008.
Category: Other
Indiana University, 2008 - Nelson Travel Grant, Department of Philosophy, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2007.
Category: Other
Indiana University, 2007 - Graduate Student Travel Grant, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2006.
Category: Other
Indiana University, 2006 - Nelson Summer Research Fellowship, Summer 2005.
Category: Other
Nelson Summer Research Fellowship, 2005 - Graduate School Research Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Academic Year 1998-1999.
Category: Other
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1999 - Francis X. Boden Memorial Award (awarded each year to graduating philosophy major on the basis of highest academic achievement in social philosophy), Department of Philosophy, Marquette University, 1996.
Category: Other
Marquette University, 1996
Books & Book Chapters
- Advances in Experimental Epistemology
Continuum Press
2014 - Current Controversies in Experimental Philosophy
Blackwell Press
2014 - Die Experimentelle Philosophie in der Diskussion
Suhrkamp Verlag
2014 - Experimental Philosophy Volume 2
Oxford University Press
2014 - Intuitions
Oxford University Press
2014 - Experimental Philosophy and Its Critics
Routledge Press
2012 - Experimental Philosophy and Its Critics
Routledge Press
2012 - Experimental Philosophy: An Introduction
Polity Press
2012
Presentations
- Case Structure and the Epistemology of Disagreement
2015
Intellectual Humility: Its Nature, Value, and Implications, Fuller Theological Seminary, California - Case Structure and the Epistemology of Disagreement
2015
Science of Intellectual Humility Capstone Conference, Avalon, Catalina Island, California - Infallibilism, Skepticism, and Cultural Differences
2015
American Philosophical Association Central Division, St. Louis, Missouri - Pernicious Stipulation
2015
Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Duke University, North Carolina - Case Structure and the Epistemology of Disagreement
2014
Buffalo X-Phi Conference, University At Buffalo, New York - Case Structure and the Epistemology of Disagreement
2014
Center for Philosophy of Science Lunchtime Colloquium, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Infallibilism, Skepticism, and Cultural Differences
2014
Society for Philosophy and Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada-British Columbia - Salience and Epistemic Egocentrism: An Empirical Study
2014
Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Charleston, South Carolina - Salience and Epistemic Egocentrism: An Empirical Study
2013
Buffalo X-Phi Conference, University At Buffalo, New York - Salience and Epistemic Egocentrism: An Empirical Study
2013
Issues in Cognitive Science: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, RPI, New York - Salience and Epistemic Egocentrism: An Empirical Study
2013
Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Brown University, Rhode Island - The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
2011
American Philosophical Organization, Pacific Division Meeting, San Diego, California - The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
2011
Marist College Departmental Colloquium, Poughkeepsie, New York - The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
2011
Metro Experimental Research Group, CUNY/NYU, New York - The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
2011
Siena College Philosophy Department Colloquium, Loudonville, New York - The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
2011
Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada-Quebec - The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
2011
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Departmental Colloquium, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois - The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
2011
York University Departmental Colloquium, York University, Canada - Putting the Trolley in Order: Experimental Philosophy and the Loop Case
2010
Metro Experimental Research Group, NYU, New York - Putting the Trolley in Order: Experimental Philosophy and the Loop Case
2010
Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Lewis and Clark College, Oregon - The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
2010
Florida International University Departmental Colloquium, Miami, Florida - Trusting Intuitions and the Restrictionist Challenge
2008
Grand Valley State University Departmental Colloquium, Allendale, Michigan - Trusting Intuitions and the Restrictionist Challenge
2008
Siena College Departmental Colloquium, Loudonville, New York - Unstable Intuitions and Need For Cognition
2008
The Society for Philosophy and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania - Commentary on Chris Tucker's 'A Dilemma for Epistemology the Wright Way'
2007
Indiana Philosophical Assoc., Bloomington, Indiana - Commentary on S. Matthew Liao's 'A Defense of Intuitions'
2007
American Philosophical Organization, Pacific Division Meeting, San Francisco, California - The Dark Heart of Philosophical Intuitions
2007
Indiana University Department of Philosophy, Bloomington, Indiana - The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions
2006
Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Charleston, South Carolina - The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions
2006
The Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri - The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions
2006
University Conference on Experimental Epistemology, Bloomington, Indiana - Modus Ponens and Problems with Material Implication
2003
Indiana University Logic Group, Bloomington, Indiana - Did Hempel Take Physical Probability Seriously After All?
2002
Indiana University Department of Philosophy, Bloomington, Indiana - On Williamson's Epistemic Treatment of Vagueness
2002
Grand Valley State University Department of Philosophy, Grand Rapids, Michigan - Rational Belief and Empirically Equivalent Rival Hypotheses
2001
Grand Valley State University Department of Philosophy, Grand Rapids, Michigan