Graham Clay
Teaching Assistant Professor | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill email: graham@grahamclay.comCV
I am a philosopher who specializes in epistemology, philosophy of mind, and metaphysics. I also have interests in philosophical and pedagogical applications of artificial intelligence. My primary focus is on defending a Humean position on argumentation and on the processes by which beliefs are generated and stabilized through argumentation, as well as the ways in which we can leverage an improved understanding of these processes to accelerate philosophical progress. Over the past two years, I was based at University College Dublin and funded by a grant from the Irish Research Council. This year, I am teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I got my undergraduate degree. My doctoral dissertation, which I defended in 2019 at the University of Notre Dame, concerned David Hume’s account of knowledge.
Recent and Upcoming Talks
July 18th-22nd, 2023: I presented “Hume’s Radical and Prescient Contention: Philosophical Beliefs are Causal Beliefs” at the 49th International Hume Society Conference at Brigham Young University in Provo, USA.
July 4th-7th, 2023: I presented “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 chaired 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 presented “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.
Writing in Popular Forums
Recent Pieces in AutomatED:
What We Learned from an AI-Driven Assignment on Plato
A Guide: How Professors Can Discourage and Prevent AI Misuse
How Professors Should Upgrade their Boring Content
How to Use AI Role Simulation to Improve Your Assessment and Grading
A Piece in InsideHigherEd:
Embracing Constructive Dialogue and Oral Assessments in the Age of AI (w/ Cambriae W. Lee)
An Oldie but a Goodie at DailyNous:
Shaping the AI Revolution in Philosophy (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.
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 and my dog) in action:
