In addition to writing academic philosophy, I like to bring philosophy to a wider audience. Here is some work I’ve done as part of this.
Writing for a popular audience
Essays, opinion, blog posts etc
Samuel Alito and the ethics of suspicion (Open for Debate blog, March 2025)
Whether you like it or not, misinformation is (still) a thing (Applied Epistemology Project Blog, November 2024)
What is incoherence? (Aeon, January 2024)
Which anti-vaxxers are irrational? (OUP Blog, February 2022)
Not for anything (The Point, Issue 7, 2013)
Against pragmatism (Prospect Magazine, December 2012) [picked up by thebrowser.com, a compendium of the web’s best writing]
Will the real liberal America please speak up? (Prospect Magazine, July 2011)
Book reviews
John D Caputo, Truth (Prospect Magazine, January 2014)
David Miller, Justice for Earthlings (Prospect Magazine, May 2013) [picked up by the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Arts & Letters Daily, and among Prospect’s top ten most read articles of 2013]
Sherif Girgis, Ryan T. Anderson & Robert P. George, What is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense (Prospect Magazine, January 2013)
Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind (Prospect Magazine, April 2012) [brief piece responding to an earlier review, also for Prospect, by David Goodhart].
Interviews, videos, etc.
Short interview with UNC Research, October 2024 [link]
Video on my paper on suspiciously convenient beliefs for New Work in Philosophy, June 2024 (script and voiceover by me; animations by the multi-talented UNC philosophy graduate student Ripley Stroud [NWIP page | YouTube]
Guest on the Colin McEnroe Show (Connecticut Public Radio/NPR), show on incoherence, February 2024 [link]
Interview on Friction (YouTube philosophy channel) on rationality (and related topics), July 2022 [YouTube link]
TED-Ed video on the Ethics of Belief for their ethical dilemmas series (scriptwriter), April 2022 [YouTube link]
Guest on WCHL Radio, discussion on “America’s epistemic crisis,” October 2021 [link]
Short video on my paper “The Skeptic and the Climate Change Skeptic,” made for the Political Epistemology Network to coincide with the launch of The Routledge Handbook of Political Epistemology [YouTube link]
Guest on Chapel Phil podcast, episode on rationality and politics, February 2020 [link]
Public lectures and other talks for a lay audience
“Epistemic crisis: what is it, and are we in one?”
- Keynote Lecture, Hobart & William Smith College Round Robin Debate Tournament, April 2026
- Public lecture, University of Cologne, July 2025
“Covert value judgments in expert testimony”
- Hettleman Prize Talk, University of North Carolina, October 2023
“Seeking truth in an age of distortion: navigating America’s epistemological crisis”
- World Affairs Series, Carolina Meadows retirement community, February 2022
- Public Lecture, Carolina Public Humanities series, October 2021
“Media bias: what is it, and why is it bad?”
- Public Lecture, University of Colorado Boulder, October 2018
“Being rationally inconsistent”
- Philosophy in 15 Minutes Talk, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, March 2017 [YouTube link]
Workshops for non-philosophers
Here are some workshops for non-philosophers that I’ve taken a leading role in designing and delivering (often in collaboration with others such as Paula McAvoy and Michael Vazquez).
“Trust Me, I’m the Expert: Science, Values, and the Cultivation of Trust,” Workshop for Public Health Faculty and Practitioners, Gillings School of Public Health, UNC, October 2026
“Political Neutrality in the Classroom: What is it and Should I Value It?,” Workshop for K-12 Teachers, NC State College of Education, January 2023
“Educational Ethics in Pandemic Times,” Workshop for K-12 Teachers, Morehead Planetarium & Science Center, UNC, November 2021