Brandon Beasley
I am a PhD Candidate (ABD) in philosophy at the University of Calgary. I work on pragmatist approaches to intentionality, meaning, and normativity, animated by the question of the place of mind and agency in the natural world. My dissertation argues that such a pragmatist view must avoid a problem which is, roughly, a naturalistic and pragmatist analogue of Descartes' interaction problem, except between 'meaning' and 'habit' instead of between mind and body. I also work on Hegel and, in general, at the intersection of German Idealism, pragmatism, and analytic philosophy. My supervisor is Mark Migotti.
I am also an instructor in the Department of Humanities at Mount Royal University and the Department of Philosophy at the University of Calgary.
I held a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (2015-2018), and from September 2017 to March 2018 was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Pittsburgh Department of Philosophy, working with Robert Brandom.
Please use the links at the top of the page to find out more about me and my research. Thanks for stopping by!
NEWS
Nov 27, 2023 - Due to an unforeseen circumstance, I will now be defending my dissertation on January 10, 2024. "Events, my dear boy, events!"
Oct 27, 2023 - I am happy to say that, at long last, I will be defending my dissertation this semester, on December 15, 2023. NB: see above.
Aug 28, 2023 - As I proceed towards a defence of my dissertation this fall, I'm happy to report I'll be teaching at both Mount Royal University and the University of Calgary this academic year, teaching introductory humanities, technology ethics, and 20th century European philosophy.
Sept 12, 2022 - The Fourth European Pragmatism Conference in London (Aug 3-5) was fantastic, and it was a treat to see old friends, make some new ones, and get very helpful feedback on my paper. The paper -- "Sellars in Light of Dewey: Pragmatism and the Problem of Mind in Nature" -- will appear in a forthcoming collection to be published by Cambridge University Press called Interpreting Sellars, edited by Carl Sachs.