I am a philosopher at the University of Toronto. I work primarily in philosophy of mind and cognitive science. My research includes work on perception, creative thought and behaviour, and imagination.
Current teaching:
Theories of Mind
Art, Concepts, and Mind
Early Modern Philosophy: Empiricism
Some previous teaching:
Reason and truth
Philosophy of Science
Persons, Minds, and Bodies
Belief, Knowledge, and Truth
Issues in Epistemology: Epistemic norms
Philosophical Foundations of Cognitive Science
Additional information about my teaching can be found here.
Dustin Stokes
Current research:
Perception and cognition
I am interested in the relation between sense perception and cognition, and how cognitive psychology and neuroscience can inform our philosophical theories of this relation. I am currently interested in the possibility of cognitive penetrability: the possibility that mental states like belief or desire may influence perceptual experience (how we see things, hear things, etc.).
The Senses project
I am co-organizing, along with two of my Toronto colleagues, an international, multi-disciplinary research project on the senses. You can check out the project here.
Creative thought and behaviour
Creative thought and behaviour is important in contexts of art, science, ordinary problem solving, and all other manner of human activity. It is, nonetheless, a relatively neglected research topic in philosophy and cognitive science. My research employs both traditional philosophical analysis and cognitive scientific methodologies in hopes of reviving general research interest in creativity.
Imagination
Imagination plays an important role in our experiences of art, in the construction of theories, and in everyday reasoning. I am interested in philosophical and psychological accounts of our imaginative capacities, and how they differ from other mental capacities.
