Graham Clay
Irish Research Council GOI Postdoc | University College Dublin email: graham.clay@ucd.ieCV
I am a philosopher who specializes in epistemology, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics, with an emphasis on David Hume and other early moderns. My current focus is on Hume’s positions on how beliefs are generated and stabilized through philosophical argumentation, as well as the ways in which we can leverage an improved understanding of the process of belief formation to accelerate philosophical progress. My project is based at University College Dublin under Ruth Boeker and funded by a €100,000 grant from the Irish Research Council. My doctoral dissertation, which I defended in June of 2019 at the University of Notre Dame, concerned Hume’s account of knowledge. I did my undergraduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Recent and Upcoming Talks
July 4th-7th, 2023: I will present “Hume’s Radical and Prescient Contention: Philosophical Beliefs are Causal Beliefs” at the 10th Conference of the International Society for the Study of Argumentation at Leiden University in Leiden, The Netherlands.
May 23rd-24th, 2023: I will chair Christia Mercer’s keynote at the Conference in Honor of Don Garrett at New York University in New York, USA.
April 14th-15th, 2023: I will present “Hume’s Denial of the Entailment Thesis” at the British Society for the History of Philosophy Annual Conference (‘Knowing in Historical and Cross-Cultural Context’) at the University of Aberdeen in Aberdeen, Scotland.
March 2nd, 2023: I presented “Hume on the Epistemic Progress of Philosophy” at University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland.
November 18th, 2022: I presented “‘A New Scene of Thought’: On Waldow’s Experience Embodied” at University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland.
July 11th-August 5th, 2022: I participated in the NEH Summer Institute “David Hume in the 21st Century: Perpetuating the Enlightenment” in Portland, USA.
July 4th-8th, 2022: I commented on Todd Ryan’s “Scepticism with Regard to Abstract Reason in the Treatise and First Enquiry” at the 48th International Hume Society Conference in Prague, Czech Republic.
March 1st, 2022: I presented “Hume’s Radical Contention: Philosophical Beliefs are Causal Beliefs” at Fort Lewis College in Durango, USA.
Writing in Popular Forums
AutomatED: Teaching Better with Tech – My weekly newsletter on AI and tech in the university classroom.
Shaping the AI Revolution in Philosophy at Daily Nous (w/ Caleb Ontiveros)
Recent Events
October 14th-15th, 2022: I and Ruth Boeker hosted the “Early Moderns on the Power of Philosophy Workshop” at University College Dublin in Dublin, Ireland.
Pre-COVID Events
December 5th, 2019: I hosted and moderated a public debate on immigration and citizenship at Notre Dame. Here’s a write-up in the Notre Dame school newspaper The Observer about the event, here is a video of the event on the Notre Dame Philosophy Facebook page, and here are some photos from the event:
Personal
Outside of philosophy, I really enjoy spending time in the great outdoors, whether it’s mountain biking, hiking, or birdwatching. Here are some photos of some of the places I’ve been, as well as some photos of me (and my wife Kourtney and dog Bailey) in action:
