Postgraduate research students

I make the case that there are situations when speculative fiction, a mode particularly interested in philosophical conundrums in its “thought experiments”, can offer alternative, and perhaps more effective, methods of teaching foundational and complex philosophical concepts when compared with traditional philosophical discourse. Speculative fiction and film (fantasy and neo-noir) and traditional philosophical discourse “do” philosophy but in radically different ways. Choosing major philosophical preoccupations, knowledge & doubt, epistemology of memory and morality, which are also central concerns of representative examples of speculative fiction and film, I evaluate the various pedagogical methods and results produced by these contrasting modes.

• Dr Stephen Daniels
• Professor Ben Colburn

Nisbet Scholarship

Summer School “Utopias, Axioms, Science Fiction: A Quest for Educational Imaginaries” scholarship

Strathclyde University

PESBG Reading Group – presented (in person) on ‘Learning about ‘The Extended Mind’ thesis through Memento

Eindhoven University of Technology

AI in Education: Ethical and Epistemic Perspectives - presented (in person) with Will Gopal on ‘Memento, AI and Virtue Epistemology’

University of Oxford

PESBG Annual Philosophy of Education Conference – student helper

University of Galway

Mapping Attention, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow – presented (in person) on ‘Pedagogy of AI Interactions through Film’

University of Glasgow

UNESCO RILA Spring School – presented (in person) on ‘Learning the global history of the natural world through Indigenous Creation Stories’

Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic (Glasgow)

GIFCon – presented (online) on ‘Investigating personal identity through Robin Hobb’s Realm of the Elderlings’

European University of Rome

Human flourishing and character education – presented (in person) on ‘Engaging with Speculative Fiction to teach Philosophical Concepts’

Member of MAP (Minorities in Philosophy)

Member of Education, Philosophy and Culture

Member of PESGB

Member of SERA