About Me

I am a visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Mount Allison University in Sackville, NB. I currently work on conceptual capabilities and whether nonlinguistic beings (either nonlinguisitic animals, human infants, or nonlinguistic AI systems) can have conceptual capabilities.

My interests center around issues in the philosophy of cognitive science, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of mind. I am particularly interested in narrow versions of the other minds problem: Do nonhuman animals have minds? If so, what sorts of mental states do they have? Can animals that lack linguistic capabilities make inferences? Are they able to use concepts? Can they follow and enforce moral norms? In answering these questions, I draw on a wide range of methods and sources in philosophy of language, philosophy of science, metaethics, artificial intelligence, comparative psychology, and ethology.

In addition, I am working on an environmental ethics project with Andrew Lopez that uses the work of classical Chinese philosopher Zhuangzi to think about the cognitive value of Weird Fiction. Weird Fiction is a genre of literature that includes elements that are incomprehensible to both characters and readers. We argue that the disorienting experience of encountering the limits of one's own epistemic capabilities can be an epistemically and ethically valuable experience, especially in the face of environmental catastrophes, like climate change. 

When I am not working, you will most likely find me playing or watching basketball, watching old movies, making cocktails, or cooking vegetarian food.