Matthew Crippen Curriculum Vitae [email protected]
1 Campus Drive, B-3-299 MAK 616 331 8081 Allendale, MI, 49401
Citizenship: Canada and U.S.A.
AOS : Pragmatism, Phenomenology/Cognitive Science, Value Theory (incl . aesthetics, ethics and politics). AOC: Modern Philosophy, Existentialism, History and Philosophy of Science, Classical Philosophy, Logic.
ACADEMIC POSITIONS: Visiting Prof., Grand Valley State University, 2018-; Associate Researcher, School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt University of Berlin, 2017-; Visiting Assist. Prof. and Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, American University in Cairo, Jan. 2011-June 2017.
EDUCATION
Ph.D. Philosophy, York University, 2010. Dissertation: “Art and Pragmatism: James and Dewey on Reconstructive Presuppositions of Experience”
M.A. Philosophy, York University, 2005. Thesis: “Cinematic Encounters: Philosophical Investigations into Filmmaking”
B.A. (Hons.), Double Major: Psychology, Film and Video, York University, 2003. Thesis findings reported in McGregor (2004), Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology; McGregor et al. (2005), J Pers Soc Psychol; McGregor (2006), Basic and Applied Social Psychology.
Cert., Arabic Language, 2011, 2012; Cert., Teaching Enhancement, 2016, American University in Cairo
AWARDS AND SCHOLARSHIPS
Teaching Excellence Award Nominee, AUC, 2013, 2014, 2015 Conference and Research Grants, 2011-2016 CSWIP Grant, 2012 Ph.D. Scholarship, York University, 2004 SSHRC Scholarship, 2003 E. S. Rogers Film & Video Scholarship, 2002 York University Continuing Scholarship, 1999-2003
BOOKS
27. Mind Ecologies: Body, Brain and Affective Life (J. Schulkin as second author). Columbia University Press, forthcoming.
REFEREED JOURNAL ARTICLES
26. “Aesthetics and Action: Situations, Emotional Perception and the Kuleshov Effect.” Synthese, forthcoming.
25. “Pragmatism and the Valuative Mind.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 54: 2018, 341-360.
24. “The Soma in City Life: Cultural, Political and Bodily Aesthetics of Mandalay’s Water Festival.” Pragmatism Today 9: 2018, 29-40.
23. “Embodied Cognition and Perception: Dewey, Science and Skepticism.” Contemporary Pragmatism 14: 2017, 121-134.
22. “Group Cognition, Developmental Psychology and Aesthetics.” Pragmatism Today 8: 2017, 185-197.
21. “Politics, Mythic Imagery and Visual Rhetoric in Film.” Opus et Educatio 4: 2017, 164-171.
20. “Screen Performers Playing Themselves.” British Journal of Aesthetics 56: 2016, 163-177.
19. “Egypt and the Middle East: Democracy, Anti-Democracy and Pragmatic Faith.” Saint Louis University Public Law Review 35: 2016, 281-302.
18. “Intuitive Cities: Pre-Reflective, Aesthetic and Political Aspects of Urban Design.” Journal of Aesthetics and Phenomenology 3: 2016, 125-145.
17. “Asleep at the Press: Thoreau, Egyptian Revolt and Nuances of Democracy.” Arab Media and Society, 20: 2015, 1-14. Matthew Crippen Curriculum Vitae [email protected]
16. “Body Phenomenology, Somaesthetics and Nietzschean Themes in Medieval Art.” Pragmatism Today, 5, 2014: 40-45.
15. “William James on Belief: Turning Darwinism Against Empiricistic Skepticism.” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 46: 2010, 477-502.
14. “The Totalitarianism of Therapeutic Philosophy: Reading Wittgenstein Through Critical Theory.” Essays in Philosophy 8: 2007, 1-27.
REFEREED CHAPTERS
13. “Body Politics: Revolt and City Celebration.” In R. Shusterman ed., Bodies in the Streets: Somaesthetics of City Life. Boston: Brill, forthcoming.
12. “Digital Fabrication and Its Meaning for Film.” In J. Braga, Conceiving Virtuality: From Art to Technology. New York: Springer, forthcoming.
11. “Echoes of Past and Present” (M. Dixon as second author). In R. Auxier and M. Volpert, Tom Petty and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, forthcoming.
10. “Debating Public Policy: Ethics, Politics and Economics of Wildlife Management in Southern Africa” (J. Salevurakis as second author). In Oguz Kelemen, ed., Bioethics in the New Age of Science. Budapest: Trivent, forthcoming.
9. “Pragmatic Evolutions of the Kantian a priori: From the Mental to the Bodily.” In C. Skowronski and S. Pihlstrom, Pragmatist Kant. Helsinki: Nordic Pragmatism Network, forthcoming.
8. “Dewey, Enactivism and Greek Thought.” In R. Madzia and M. Jung, eds., Pragmatism and Embodied Cognitive Science: Bodily Interaction to Symbolic Articulation. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016, 229-246.
7. “Dewey on Arts, Sciences and Greek Philosophy.” In A. Benedek and A. Veszelszki, eds., Visual Learning: Time - Truth - Tradition. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Press, 2016, 153-159.
6. “Pictures, Experiential Learning and Phenomenology.” In A. Benedek and K. Nyiri, eds., Visual Learning, vol. 5: Saying by Showing, Showing by Saying – Pictures, Parables, Paradoxes. Frankfurt am Main Peter Lang Press, 2015, 83-90.
5. “William James and his Darwinian Defense of Freewill.” In M. R. Wheeler, ed., 150 Years of Evolution: Darwin’s Impact on Contemporary Thought and Culture. San Diego: San Diego State University Press, 2011, 68-89.
EDITED VOLUMES
4. Guest Editor for special issue on pragmatism and cognitive science, Contemporary Pragmatism 14: 2017.
INVITED PUBLICATIONS
3. “William James, Darwinian Theory and Personal Evolution.” Science and Education 27: 2018, 239-241.
2. “Guest Editor’s Preface.” Contemporary Pragmatism 14: 2017, 1-3.
1. “Difficulties in a Digital Age.” Rhetoric Today 8: 2016.
SUBMITTED WORK/MANUSCRIPTS IN PROGRESS
“Contours of Cairo Revolt: Semiology and Political Affordances in Street Discourses” (resubmitted at invitation of Topoi)
“Ethics and Economics of Wildlife Management” (based on field research in Africa; in progress)
“Loss and Emergence of Self: Illness, Pragmatism and Art Therapy” (S. Hammad as second author; manuscript in progress)
Matthew Crippen Curriculum Vitae [email protected]
REFEREED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Aesthetics, Pre-Reflective Life and Value Sensitive Urban Design Philosophy of City, La Salle University, Bogotá, Columbia, Oct. 12, 2018.
Art Therapy and the Loss and Emergence of Self (S. Hammad as second author) Between the Human Body & Beyond, Szeged University, Hungary, May 14, 2018.
Debating Public Policy: Ethics, Politics and Economics of Wildlife Management in Southern Africa Bioethics in the New Age of Science, Szeged University, Hungary, May 10, 2018.
Existentialism Cinematized and Emotionalized Visual Learning: Communication, Culture and Consciousness, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, April 28, 2018.
“Film and the New Psychology”: Emotions, Situations and the Kuleshov Effect. Gestalt Structure, Phenomenology, and Embodied Cognition, University of Edinburgh, July 8, 2017.
Cultural, Political and Bodily Aesthetics of Mandalay’s Water Festival The Soma as the Core of Aesthetics, Ethics and Politics, Szeged University, Hungary, June 26, 2017.
Aesthetics and Action: Emotions, Situations and the Kuleshov Effect iCog Conference, Oxford University, UK, June 18, 2017.
Pragmatism and Cognitive Science: Experience, Culture and History Pragmatism, 4E Cognitive Science, and Sociality, Paris, EHESS, Dec. 8, 2016.
Dewey’s Democracy and Education: Merging Sciences, Arts and Greek Concepts of Experience Perspectives on Cognition, Education and Society, Aarhus University, Dec. 1, 2016.
Heidegger’s Concept of Worldhood and Mandalay’s Water Festival Presented at Philosophy of the City, University of San Francisco, Nov. 18, 2016.
Truth, Lies and Myth in Film: The Apologetics of Pleasantville Visual Learning: Virtual, Visual, Veridical, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Nov. 12, 2016.
Digital Fabrication and Its Meaning for Film Coimbra Conference On the Virtual, University of Coimbra, Oct. 28, 2016.
Time, Sound and “Temporal Art” Consciousness and Experiential Psychology, University of Bristol, Sept. 3, 2016.
Acting Invitations in Cinema The Rocky Mountain Division of the ASA, Santa Fe, New Mexico, July 9, 2016.
The Emotionality of Rationality: James and Neuroscience Pragmatism and the Brain, University of North Carolina, June 4, 2016.
Darwinian and Pragmatic Epistemologies: A Defence of Religious Belief? Oxford Symposium for Religious Studies, Oxford, UK, March 16, 2016.
Conformity, Catharsis and Rebellion in Mandalay’s Water Festival Eastern APA, Washington DC, January 9, 2016.
Implicit Narrative, Images and Dewey’s Aesthetics Visual Learning: Time, Truth, Tradition, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Nov. 13, 2014.
Semiology and the City: Meanings and Appropriations of Tahrir Square (F. Youssef as second author) Philosophy of the City, Hong Kong University, November 7, 2015.
Loss and Emergence of Self Consciousness and Experiential Psychology, Cambridge University, Sept. 10, 2015.
James, Neuropragmatism and the Rationality of Emotions European Philosophical Society for Emotion, University and Edinburgh, July 16, 2015.
Matthew Crippen Curriculum Vitae [email protected]
Dewey, Enactivism and Greek Thought Pragmatism and Embodied Cognitive Science, University of Koblenz-Landau, May 28, 2015.
Urban Aesthetics and Intuitive Design Philosophy of the City, UAM, Mexico City, Dec. 5, 2014.
Enhancing Teaching through Film and other Media Visual Learning: Pictures, Parables, Paradoxes, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Nov. 14, 2014.
Whack ‘Em and Stack ‘Em: Ethical Conservation Strategy? 9th International Conference on Applied Ethics: Security, Sustainability and Human Flourishing, Center for Applied Ethics and Philosophy, Hokkaido University, Nov. 1, 2014.
Refinements of the Wheel: Enactivism, Dewey’s Sensorimotor Theory and Ancient Greek Thought. Consciousness and Experiential Psychology Section of the British Psychology Society: Investigating Somatic Consciousness, Cambridge University, Sept. 6, 2014.
Emotions as Reflections of Situations European Philosophical Society for Emotion, New University of Lisbon, July 19, 2014.
Body Phenomenology and Nietzschean Themes in Del Biondo’s Art Aesthetic Experience and Somaesthetics, Faculty of Arts, ELTE, Budapest, June 2, 2014.
Performers Playing Themselves: Invitations to a Star System Presented at International Lisbon Conference on Philosophy and Film, Centro de Filosofia da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisbon, May 9, 2014.
Dewey’s Phenomenology and Embodiment Theory in the Cognitive Sciences Thinking with Hands, Eyes and Things, Torun, Poland, Nov. 8, 2013.
Emotion on Masks: Perception of Emotional Expression and Some Lessons It Teaches Consciousness and Experiential Psychology, University of Bristol, Sept. 8, 2013.
Intuitive Cities: Urban Design for Pre-Reflective Living IIAA Summer Conference on Environmental Aesthetics, Lahti, Finland, Aug. 1, 2013.
Bodily Bases of Dewey’s Accounts of Perception and Knowledge. The Body, Embodiment and Body-Practices, Mount Royal University, Oct. 27, 2012.
Dewey on Science, Arts and Greek Philosophy Annual Meeting of the Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Waterloo, May 28, 2012.
Film and the New Psychology: Merleau-Ponty, Dewey and the Objectivity of Emotional Qualities Psychology, Emotion, and the Human Sciences, University of Windsor, April 20, 2012.
William James and his Darwinian Defense of Freewill 150 Years of Evolution: Darwin’s Impact on the Humanities and Social Sciences, State University of San Diego, Nov. 21, 2009.
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
Pragmatic Evolutions of the Kantian a priori Pragmatist Kant, Berlin, July 12, 2017.
Is there Freewill? Philosophy for the Public Workshop, AUC, May 2, 2017.
Animal, Stem Cell and Research Ethics Department of Biology, AUC, Dec. 11, 2013, Nov. 25, 2014 and Oct. 4, 2015, Dec. 12, 2016.
Philosophy, Art and Architecture Presented at Celebrating Architecture, AUC, Feb. 11, 2016.
Pictures and Experiential Learning Innovative Teaching, AUC, Nov. 4, 2015. Matthew Crippen Curriculum Vitae [email protected]
Dewey and Embodied Knowing Presented at Dewey and the Cognitive Sciences, AUC, Oct. 15, 2015.
Teaching through Media Presented at Brown Bag Lunch Series, AUC, March 22, 2012.
Experience and Art: Merleau-Pontian Illustrations of Dewey’s Anti-Subjectivism Presented at Body Philosophy and Art, York University, April 2, 2011.
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Assist. Prof., Grand Valley State University, (Aug. 2018-); Assist. Professor (July 2016-June 2017), Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow & Assist. Professor (Sept. 2012-June 2016), Postdoctoral Fellow & Assist. Professor (Jan. 2011-Aug. 2012), American University in Cairo.
PHIL 220 Aesthetics, Winter 2018 (two sections) PHIL 230 American Philosophy (incl. Indigenous, Afro-Amer., Feminist & Latin Amer.), Fall 2018 PHIL 101 Introduction to Philosophy, Fall 2018 PHIL 5204 Phenomenology & Contemporary Philosophy of Mind, Spring 2017 PHIL 2099 Sel. Topics: Philosophy, Psychology & Movies, Fall 2016 PHIL 5204 Advanced Seminar in Phenomenology: Finding Mind in Body, Spring 2016 PHIL 4100 Philosophy & History of Science, Fall 2015 PHIL 2099 Sel. Topics: Psychology & Mind, Fall 2015 PHIL 3003 Modern Philosophy, Spring 2015 PHIL 3004 Twentieth Century Philosophy: Finding Mind in Body, Fall 2014 PHIL 4100 Critical Media Studies, Spring 2014 PHIL 3010 Philosophy & Art: Film, Architecture and Everyday Aesthetics, Spring 2014 PHIL 500 Classical Western Philosophy, Fall 2013 PHIL 220/2100 Philosophical Thinking, Spring 2011-Fall 2016 (two sections per term) PHIL 319 Development & Responsibility: Applied Social Ethics & Political Philosophy, Spring 2013 PHIL 405 Science & Religion, Fall 2012 PHIL 356 American Philosophy, Fall 2011 PHIL 310 Philosophy & Art, Spring 2012 SCI 120 Scientific Thinking, Spring 2012 PHIL 299 Sel. Topics: Philosophies, Theories & Practices of Filmmaking, Fall 2011 PHIL 299 Sel. Topics: Existence & Meaning (a course on existentialism), Spring 2011
Lecturer, Global Center For Advanced Studies, New York City, Fall 2015 “Democracy Rising” series, Fall 2015
Teaching Assistant, York University, 2004-2010:
2015 3.0 Plato & Aristotle 1100 3.0 Meaning of Life 2120 3.0 Existentialism Winter 2009, 2010 Fall 2004, 2009 Winter 2006
2100 3.0 Introduction to Logic 2075 3.0 Applied Ethics Winter, 2007, 2008, Fall 2008 Fall 2004, 2005, 2006, Winter, 2005, Fall 2007
RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
Research Assistant to Stuart Shanker, 2003-2004. Research contributed to S. Greenspan and S. Shanker’s The First Idea: How Symbols, Language, and Intelligence Evolved, De Capo Press, 2006.
Laboratory Research in Social and Personality Psychology, under the supervision of Ian McGregor, 2001-2003. Results from one study cited in three publications (see first page of CV for list of references).
SERVICE
Editorial Board, Trivent Publishing, 2018- Reviewer, Environmental Ethics, 2017; New Ideas in Psychology, 2018; Pragmatism Today, 2018; Sustainability Science 2018. Matthew Crippen Curriculum Vitae [email protected]
Session Chair, Somaesthetics conferences, Szeged University, 2017, 2018 Center for Learning and Teaching Faculty Associate, AUC, 2015-2017 Computer Committee, 2015-2016, AUC Organizer & Chair of Dewey and the Cognitive Sciences, international conference, AUC, Oct. 15-18, 2015 Students with Disabilities Subcommittee of the Freshman Program Steering Committee, AUC, 2015-2016 Supervisor for Salma el-Nagar, Independent Reading Course, AUC, 2015 Member of the Core Advisory Committee, AUC, 2013-2015 Co-Supervisor of the Phenomenal Reading Workshop, AUC, 2013-2014 Chair at European Philosophical Society for the Study of Emotion for sessions on May 8, 9 and 10, 2014 Member of Library and Learning Technologies Advisory Committee, AUC, 2013-2014 Supervisor for Mariam Matar, Independent Reading Course, AUC, 2014 Philosophy Representative for Majors’ Fair, AUC, 2014 Arts Representative for Community Day, AUC, 2014 Philosophy Representative for Parent’s Association, AUC, 2012 Supervisor for Ibrahim Salawudeen, Independent Reading Course, Department of Philosophy, AUC, 2012 Co-Supervisor for Adham Mandour, Senior Thesis, Department of Biology, AUC, 2012
GRADUATE COURSE WORK (†Taken through TST in University of Toronto. *Audited.)
-Twentieth Century Continental -Advanced History and Theory of Philosophy* (Mallin) Psychology (Green) -Environment and Behaviour (Peterson) -Heidegger’s Reading of Nietzsche* (Mallin) -Pragmatism (Jackman) -Later Heidegger* (Mallin) -Screenwriting and Philosophy (Cameron) -Greek I & Greek II (Jeffers) † -Wittgenstein (Shanker) -Frankfurt School Critical Theory (Horowitz) -The Body in Current Continental -Aristotle, Aquinas & the Scholastic Approach Philosophy (Mallin) to the History of Philosophy† (Sweetman) -Theology and Evolutionary Theory† (Clarke) -Beauty: Theology, Ethics or Aesthetics† (Smick) -Directed Readings on American Romanticism -Investigating the Mind: Buddhism & Transcendentalism & Pragmatism (Cameron) -Cognitive Science (E. Thompson) -Seminar in Phenomenology (Harman) * -Islamic Philosophy (Steltzer)* -Foundations of Christian Ethics (McQueen) †
REFERENCES (Teaching Reference*)
Professor Jeanette Bicknell, Principled Dispute Resolution and Consulting Email: [email protected]
Professor Evan Cameron, Departments of Philosophy and Film & Video, York University Email: [email protected]
Professor Anthony Chemero, Department of Philosophy and Psychology, University of Cincinnati Email: [email protected]
Professor Henry Jackman, Department of Philosophy, York University Email: [email protected]
Professor Jay Schulkin, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University and Rockefeller University Email: [email protected]
Professor Robert Switzer,* Department of Philosophy and Dean of HUSS, American University in Cairo Email: [email protected]
Professor David Vessey,* Department of Philosophy, Grand Valley State University Email: [email protected]
Matthew Crippen Curriculum Vitae [email protected]
RESEARCH STATEMENT
My research gravitates around intersections between aesthetics, American philosophy and phenomenology, with cognitive science and pragmatism at its core and an emphasis on applied problems.
One research strain starts with the premise that pragmatists anticipated recent 4E outlooks on cognition. I locate inspiration for pragmatic views on mind in late 19th and early 20th century science, especially biology but also physics, along with Greek philosophy and Kantianism. From pragmatic (and phenomenological) standpoints, the body—understood as a system that falls into synchrony by coordinating around worldly contours—is at the heart of our experience. Such activity engenders sensorimotor organization that constitutes perception, a view also defended by enactivists. In numerous publications, I integrate Deweyan (and Merleau-Pontian) accounts of perception with 4E views. I also consider how individual bodily coordinations parallel group coordinations in social contexts, drawing on Trevarthen’s developmental research. I connect this to the notion of “social affordances,” with the aim of expanding on Dewey’s idea of experience as culture. Unlike early Modern and recent mind as computer views, which emphasize an inner-outer divide wherein the world is represented inside the organism, this embodied position insists that things registered by us, whether firsthand or via scientific instruments, are consequences of conduct in primarily shared worlds. Phenomena registered should consequently be evaluated according to action-scenarios generating them. This lends epistemic basis for everyday experiences and scientific knowledge since both are generated by changes occurring in our surroundings, as opposed to just our heads.
The social side of this approach connects to my work on ethics and politics, again grounded in pragmatism insofar as it draws explicitly on the school and is concerned with applied problems. For example, in more than one piece, I consider prospects for democracy in the Middle East. Building on first hand experience, established scholarship and interviews conducted with a number of individuals, I defend concepts of democratic and pragmatic faith articulated by Dewey and James. I argue that democracy will continue to flounder in the Middle East so long as the basic trust implied in these concepts is lacking; and that Westerners might consider this as a cautionary tale against emerging social attitudes and public policies that are contrary to democratic life. Other work—again, building on pragmatic theory—suggests that ethical values are embodied in the design of built environments and that these values shape everything from crime patterns to social inclusiveness. The aesthetic side of my work follows suit. It does so, first, by considering our experience of art ranging from painting to architecture through embodied approaches, pragmatic, phenomenological and 4E. It also recruits the ideas and methods of pragmatists such as Santayana and Cavell to get a sense of what various arts “are” by examining what they mean, which relates not only to how we talk about them, but why they are important and valued.
An additional linking feature uniting my research, accordingly, is the idea that values—whether aesthetic or ethical—are fundamental to how we conceive and perceive the world. This is not only consistent with the ideas of classical pragmatists, but also in line with fairly recent breakthroughs by scholars such as Damasio, Gibson, Johnson, Prinz and also Schulkin, with whom I have a book project in progress. My research trajectory expands the applicability of these more contemporary views, while showing the continued relevance of historical figures.
Ecologies of Mind: Embodiment, Neurobiology and Living Valuations, Columbia University Press
Pragmatism and phenomenology are resurging. This is especially so in cognitive science and value theory, two fields increasingly intertwined. In particular, cognitive science is undergoing a pragmatic and phenomenological turn away from representational models, with proponents from various and even competing quarters embracing embodied approaches that recognize the centrality of values, emotions and aesthetics in human experience. This development is clearly in the spirit of classical pragmatists and phenomenologists. A number of neuroscientifically literate scholars are approaching comparable conclusions and accordingly embracing pragmatism and phenomenology.
This book has three goals. The first is to explicate embodied pragmatism and phenomenology, and this means contextualizing it in the history of philosophy, psychology and science, though the ultimate aim is to apply it to contemporary work. Classical Pragmatists and figures such as Merleau-Ponty of course recognized the importance of the brain. However, more than most of their time, they also appreciated that active bodies have a role in constituting perception and cognition. Researchers such as Chemero, Damasio, Gallagher, Menary, Schulkin and Thompson have picked up on this in various ways. Our second goal, accordingly, is modest: to more tightly integrate classic and contemporary views, taking bodily actions into account. We do this as a corrective against brain centered outlooks that currently dominate. At the same time, we maintain any reasonably thorough account must be grounded in neuroscience. Classical pragmatists and phenomenologists made some of their more impressive advances when focusing on arts and emotions, and something similar is occurring today. A third, more ambitious goal, therefore, is to integrate hints left by pragmatists and phenomenologists with detailed but still underdeveloped work in contemporary cognitive science and particularly neurobiology to compellingly show that emotional and aesthetic capacities undergird perception and cognition.
The aim is to show generally that cognition, emotion and perception, along with brain and body, imply one another, so that none can be adequately understood in isolation. In fact, we go further. We develop an empirically backed case that cognition is emotional and emotion cognitive. Perception is likewise cognitive and emotional, and emotion—save perhaps in pathological instances—is also perceptual and cognitive, that is, it helps us see and grasp what is going on in the world.