When I was a tenured academic I regularly taught university courses in introduction to philosophy, ethics, logic, scientific reasoning, history and philosophy of science, and critical thinking.

This doesn't make me special, it was just my job (that I was privileged to have for sixteen years).

I love learning and finding ways to communicate what I've learned. The work I do at the Critical Thinker Academy lets me take advantage of my academic expertise and indulge my interests in art, technology and public education.

Below is an academic biography for those who are interested.

Education:

Bachelor of Science – Physics (Carleton University, 1991)

Masters and PhD – Philosophy (University of Western Ontario, 1998)

Employment:

2008-2012, Chair, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Iowa State University

2005-2015, Associate Professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Iowa State University

1999-2005, Assistant Professor, Philosophy and Religious Studies, Iowa State University

1998-1999, Assistant Professor, Philosophy and Religion, University College of Cape Breton

Areas of Research Specialization:

• Philosophy of Science
• Philosophy of Ecology/Biology
• Philosophy of the Complex Systems Sciences
• Environmental Philosophy
• Argumentation and Critical Thinking
• Rationality and the Psychology of Belief and Judgment

Teaching Experience:

This list below includes courses taught at Iowa State University, University College of Cape Breton, University of Zagreb, and University of Western Ontario. I've grouped them by area.

History and Philosophy of Science

• Philosophy of Science
• Contemporary Philosophy of Science
• Natural Science
• History of Scientific Thought
• Philosophy of Physics
• Philosophy of Biology
• History and Philosophy of Ecology
• Philosophy of Technology

Ethics and Social/Political Philosophy

• Business, Scientific and Environmental Ethics
• Moral Theory and Practice
• Ethics and Law
• Environmental Ethics
• Ethics and Society
• Introduction to Environmental Philosophy
• Professional Issues in Art Therapy

Introduction to Philosophy and Critical Thinking

• Introduction to Philosophy
• Introduction to Problems in Philosophy
• Introduction to Logic and Scientific Methodology
• Symbolic Logic
• Critical Thinking and Computer Applications

Independent Study Courses

• Philosophy of Mathematics
• Perspectives on Ecosystem Health
• Science and Religion
• Feminism and the Ethics of Animals

Representative Publications:

(2011) Editor of Philosophy of Ecology (with Bryson Brown and Kent Peacock), volume 11 of the multi-volume Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, senior editors, Dov Gabbay, Paul Thagard and John Woods.

(2011) “The Biodiversity-Ecosystem Function Debate (with Valentin Picasso) in deLaplante, K, Brown, B. and Peacock, K., (eds) Philosophy of Ecology, Vol. 11 in the Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, Elsevier.

(2011 – with David Alexander) “Commentary on Bondy's 'Against Epistemic Circularity'", in Zenker, F. (ed.). Argumentation: Cognition and Community. Proceedings of the 9th International Conference of the Ontario Society for the Study of Argumentation (OSSA), May 18-21, 2011. Windsor, ON (CD ROM), pp. 1-5.

(2009) “Eugene Odum", in Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics and Philosophy, Volume 2, senior editors J. B. Callicott and R. Frodeman. Macmillan Reference USA, Thomson-Gale. pp. 120-121.

(2009) “Philosophy of Ecology: An Overview", for Encyclopedia of Ecology, 1st Edition, Elsevier Academic Publishers, senior editors Sven Jorgensen and Brian Fath, pp. 2709-2715.

(2006) “Sources of Domain-Independence in the Formal Sciences" in Benedikt Lowe, Volker Peckhaus and Thoralf Rasch (eds.) Foundations of the Formal Sciences: The History of the Concept of the Formal Sciences, College Publications, pp. 1-16.

(2005) “Making the Abstract Concrete: How a Comic Can Bring to Life the Central Problems of Environmental Philosophy", in J. McLaughlin (ed.) Comics as Philosophy, University Press of Mississippi.

(2005) “Is Ecosystem Management a Postmodern Science?", for K.E. Cuddington and B.E. Beisner (eds.) Ecological Paradigms Lost: Routes of Theory Change, Academic Press, pp. 397-418.

(2004) “Environmental Alchemy: How to Turn Ecological Science into Ecological Philosophy", Environmental Ethics 26: 361-80.

(2004) “Can You Teach Environmental Philosophy Without Being an Environmentalist?", Worldviews: Nature, Culture, Religion 8(2): 198-212.

(2004) “Toward a More Expansive Conception of Ecological Science", Biology and Philosophy 19: 263-281.

(1999) “Certainty and Domain-Independence in the Sciences of Complexity: A Critique of James Franklin's Account of Formal Science", Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 30: 699-720