Coming Attractions
Fall 2022
• The Big Questions: Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110, Lectures T/Th 5:30 - 6:20, CL50 224
• Moral Psychology and Climate Change
PHIL 403, T/Th 3:00 - 4:15 BRNG 1248 (The class will look something
like the syllabus under the link, but it will be considerably updated as well.)
Course Description
There’s an old saying
that if you want to change the world, you need to know which levers to
pull. In this course, we’ll consider some of those levers, especially
those that lie within ourselves. We’ll use research in the
interdisciplinary field of moral psychology to explore the philosophic
and ethical facets of climate change, and aim for a better
understanding of what exactly it is about the climate crisis that makes
it so difficult for us to grasp and effectively act on.
We’ll first look at state of the art research on the character of human
moral psychology, drawing on work by philosophers, psychologists,
biologists, economists, and anthropologists. We’ll pay particularly
close attention to the psychology of cooperation, and the central roles
that culture, social norms, and informal institutions play in shaping
both individual and group behavior. We’ll also look at how the threats
produced by climate change engage our minds, and more alarmingly, fail
to engage them. It appears that the climate crisis is a "perfect
storm", almost custom designed to elude the grasp of our intuitive
morality. We will examine in more detail how key features of the
climate crisis lie behind some of our cognitive blind spots, fail to
push our emotional buttons or get a grip on our motivational apparatus,
and give rise to particularly difficult forms of collective action
problems. Finally, we’ll consider some ideas for how to get around
these obstacles, especially ideas that attempt to harness emerging
research on human moral psychology to more effectively nudge us and our
institutions towards meaningful social change.
Currently
Playing
Spring 2022
• Philosophy of Mind PHIL 435 T/Th 1:30 - 2:45 MJIS 1001Back Issues
Fall 2021
• The Big Questions: Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
• The Normative Mind (and Its Many Uses) PHIL 535
Spring 2020
• Independent Study: Bias, Social Epistemology, and the Ethics of Algorithms PHIL 590
• The Big Questions: Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
Fall 2020
• Sabbatical
Spring 2020
• This semester I was honored to be a Faculty Fellow at the Purdue College of Liberal Arts Center for Humanistic Studies
Fall 2019
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
• Private Selves, Public Personae: The Philosophy of Identities and the Sciences of the Mind HONR 399
Fall 2018 and Spring 2019
• I did not teach this academic year because I was lucky enough to be living the dream as a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University.
Spring 2018
• Philosophy of Mind
PHIL 435
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
Fall 2017
• Normativity and the Psychology of Social Norms PHIL 535Spring 2017
• Introduction
to Philosophy PHIL 110
Fall 2016
• Moral Psychology and Climate Change PHIL 490
• Introduction
to Philosophy PHIL 110
Spring 2016
• Minds, Mental Illness, and the Curious Case
of Culture-bound Syndromes PHIL
535
Fall 2015
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
• Philosophy of Mind PHIL 435
Spring 2015
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110 Honors
Fall 2014
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
• Studies in Philosophy of Mind: Evolution and Externalism PHIL 535
Spring 2013
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
• The Many Sides of Madness: Philosophy of Psychiatry PHIL 680
Fall 2012
• Philosophy of Mind PHIL 435
Spring 2012
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
• Studies in Philosophy of Mind: Agents Persons and Selves PHIL 535
• Philosophy in David Foster Wallace PHIL 590 Independent Study
Fall 2011
• Principles of Logic PHIL 150
• Directed Readings in Norms and Informal Institutions PHIL 590: An Interdisciplinary Graduate Reading Seminar
Spring 2011
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
• Philosophy of Mind PHIL 435
• Moral Psychology PHIL 590 Independent Study
Fall 2010
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110
• Minds & Morals PHIL 490
Spring 2010
• Studies in Philosophy of Mind: Modularity and the Architecture of the Human Mind PHIL 535
• Philosophy of The Natural Sciences (Philosophy of Biology) PHIL 551
Fall 2009
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110 (Lecture, CRN 25220 Sec 019)
• Introduction to Philosophy PHIL 110 (Section, CRN 25219 Sec 018)
Spring 2009
• Philosophy of Mind PHIL 435
• Mind & Morality PHIL 580
Fall 2008
• Theories of Concepts PHIL 590 Independent Study
Spring 2008
• Mind, Brains, and Programs: The Philosophic Foundations of Cognitive Science PHIL 490B
• Studies in Philosophy of Mind: Physicalism, Dualism, Panpsychism PHIL 535
Fall 2007
• Introduction
to Philosophy PHIL 110
• Philosophy of Mind PHIL 435
Spring 2006
• Introduction
to Symbolic Logic PHIL 201 (At Rutgers University)
Home
Comments, suggestions, clever derision and unqualified flattery
all
welcome at drkelly@purdue.edu.