Summer Program in Philosophy

Michael Randall Barnes is a Postdoctoral Associate at the Rotman institute of Philosophy, at Western University, focusing on issues in AI ethics. He received his PhD from Georgetown University in 2019, where his dissertation was on the topic of subordinating speech. Before that he completed an MA at Carleton University, where he focused on exploitation. It is from this background that he approaches issues in AI ethics, addressing wide-ranging topics such as online hate speech, content moderation and recommendation, automation, fauxtomation, and ghost work. Pedagogy has been a longstanding passion of Michael’s. Before his Ph.D., he attended the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto and briefly taught English and Philosophy in Toronto High Schools. At Georgetown, Michael served as Coordinator of the Georgetown Philosophy Pedagogy Group, was a member of the Georgetown Diversifying Syllabi Group (https://diversifyingsyllabi.weebly.com), and taught Philosophy of Education, among other courses.

Ashley Pryor, Ph.D., is the Associate Dean and Chair of Faculty in the Jesup Scott Honors College at the University of Toledo, where she teaches Applied Philosophy and Interdisciplinary Humanities. Her publications and teaching reflect her interdisciplinary concerns ranging from Platonic philosophy to Animal Studies. She is currently writing about the role that theater games and improvisational comedy play in her teaching through the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. Ashley is also a seasoned improv performer and published satire writer and has studied satire, sketch writing, and improv with The Second City. You can find her most recent satire publications at: Ashleygeiger.com Link to the fuller description of my project: (under development and subject to modification)

Anthony Weston is a recent Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Elon University, where his work and teaching centered on an inventive and venturesome practice of philosophy. He was an affiliated professor in Environmental Studies, teaching in Honors and General Studies programs as well, and over his career there was honored both as Elon’s Teacher of the Year and Scholar of the Year. Along with many articles in the philosophical literature and beyond, he has written fifteen books, including textbooks like A Rulebook for Arguments, Hackett, 5th edition 2017), A 21st Century Ethical Toolbox (Oxford, 4th edition, 2018), and, his latest, a book on questioning with a colleague (Thinking Through Questions, with Stephen Bloch-Schulman, Hackett 2020). He has also written on environmentalism (e.g. Mobilizing the Green Imagination (New Society, 2012)), pedagogy (Teaching as the Art of Staging (Stylus 2019)), and many other topics.

Mercy Corredor graduated from Hamilton College in 2015 and is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Michigan. Mercy is interested in ethics, feminist philosophy, and social philosophy. Her dissertation explores questions having to do with how the self is shaped by external oppressive systems and how this, in turn, affects how we should hold others and ourselves to account for our shortcomings. This will be Mercy's second year with the HCSPiP (last year she worked as a tutor for a course led by Ann Cahill) and she is excited to take on this new role as Program Organizer. In her spare time, Mercy enjoys cooking (moderately-well), dancing (less-well), and playing with her very good dog (max. enthusiastically).

Russell Marcus is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Hamilton College, where he has taught since 2007. He specializes in philosophy of mathematics and philosophical pedagogy, and is a board member of the American Association of Philosophy Teachers. In addition to articles on mathematics and teaching, he has published three books: a monograph, Autonomy Platonism and the Indispensability Argument (Lexington); a co-edited reader, An Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Mathematics (Bloomsbury); and a pair of logic books, Introduction to Formal Logic and Introduction to Formal Logic with Philosophical Applications (Oxford University Press). Before coming to Hamilton College, Russell taught mathematics and computer science in public high schools in New York City and history, math, literature, and writing in a high school in Costa Rica. While in graduate school, he taught mathematics and philosophy as an adjunct instructor in various community colleges and four-year school. At Hamilton, where he has won both teaching and research awards, Russell teaches Logic, Modern Western Philosophy, Infinity, Philosophy of Education, The Language Revolution, and senior seminars on the philosophy of mathematics, intuitions and philosophy, and Wittgenstein. For fun, he likes to play board games, solve all manners of puzzles, hike, watch NY Mets baseball games, and cook (and eat).