Joel Vincent Walmsley

Joel Walmsley joined the Department of Philosophy in 2006, having completed a BA in Psychology, Philosophy and Physiology at Oxford University, and an MA and PhD in Philosophy at the University of Toronto. He works on philosophy of cognitive science and AI, philosophy of science, and philosophy of mind. He has also written about the lamentably neglected philosopher C.D. Broad, and -- having first-hand experience of it -- the phenomenon of colour-blindness.

Broadly speaking my main research interests lie at the intersection of philosophy of mind and philosophy of science. I'm particularly interested in the way in which cognitive science draws on -- and develops -- debates and concepts in those areas of philosophy, and in applying current empirical research to classical philosophical problems.

More specifically, I have written on the following areas:

• Philosophy of artificial intelligence, both as a branch of cognitive science, and in terms of its ethical impact;
• The way in which the mathematical formalism of dynamical systems theory has been applied to cognition (both natural and artificial);
• Theories of scientific explanation and how they apply to cognitive and psychological phenomena in particular;
• The "extended mind" hypothesis, and "situated" approaches to cognition that regard aspects of the body and the environment (both physical and social) as essential to psychological processes and their explanation;
• The concepts of emergence and reduction, both as attempts to address the age-old "mind-body problem" and as ways of explaining complex phenomena in empirical psychology and social science;
• The philosopher C.D. Broad (both his theory of emergence specifically, and the historical and philosophical significance of his overall body of work).
• The phenomenon of colour-blindness (or, better, "colour vision deficiency"): what it is, what it's like, and why it matters.

Teaching areas:

Logic, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science and Technology, Metaphysics, Free Will, Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence.

Modules taught (since 2006):

• PH1001: Introduction to Philosophy
• PH1005: Philosophy and Social Science: An Introduction
• PH2002: Reasoning and Argument
• PH2003: Philosophical Seminar
• PH2006: Philosophy of Mind & Consciousness
• PH2019: Philosophy of Science
• PH3026: Metaphysics and Mind
• PH3029: Philosophy in the 21st Century
• PH3035: Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence
• PH3041: Moral Psychology
• PH3110: Human Nature and Free Will
• PH6001: Seminar in Metaphysics
• PH6014: Advanced Philosophy of Mind
• PH6052: Advanced Moral Psychology
• PH6061: Advanced Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence

Modules contributed to:

• MX1009: History of Medicine
• UW0003/93: History and Philosophy of Science
• PH2017: Feminist Philosophy
• PH3002, PH3031: Research Essay
• PH6048: Death and Dying
• PH7001: Doctoral Research Seminar