My Dissertation - (Dissertation director: Prof. Andrew Melnyk) My current work is on my dissertation - tentatively entitled A Critical Survey of the Arguments Against Human Evolutionary Psychology. The most popular of the evolutionary approaches to the study of the human mind and human behavior, evolutionary psychology (EP), receives criticism not only from dualists and anti-evolutionists, but from scientists and philosophers who accept both physicalism and neo-Darwinist evolutionary theory.  The goal of my dissertation is to enumerate the most prevalent and important of the arguments against EP, to analysis the strongest formulations of those arguments, and to critique those arguments.  I expect to find that each of these arguments is either flawed or ineffectual, thus showing that there is no good reason to think that the evolutionary psychology research program is not, at least potentially, viable.

Philosophy of Mind - I have long been interested in the nature of phenomenal consciousness and the problems associated with qualia: the knowledge argument, the possibility of zombies and inverted spectrums, etc.  I am interested in physicalist and representational theories of mind. I am interested in the possibility of the representational and felt character of all consciousness.

Philosophy of Psychology - I am interested in trying to determine the best ways to study subjective mental states like consciousness, our sense of self, intentionality.  I am also interested in the place of neuroscience and evolutionary theory in understanding the mind and behavior.

Metaphysics - I'm interested in theories of identity of objects and persons and whether the same theories can and should apply to both.  I am also interested in understanding the nature of free will given physicalism.

Philosophy of Language - I am interested in developing a theory of all truth bearers as being essentially representational.   I am interested in the nature and status of propositions and whether or not they even need to be postulated to explain the public nature of language.  I am interested in the relationship between sensation, thought, and language.