Our Faculty & Staff

Department:

Research, Professional and Creative Activity:

Research

My complete research statement is available online at http://sites.google.com/site/dougkeatonspage. Briefly, my projects engage with current work in the metaphysics of mind and mental causation, as well as with more general problems in metaphysical physicalism. In my primary project I investigate the use and abuse of the notion of “the realization relation” -- the metaphysical relationship that is both the most popular solution to the mind/body problem amongst analytic philosophers of mind, and also in wide use amongst metaphysicians of science looking for ways to “save the phenomena of the everyday” in a purely physical world. I believe that the study of the realization relation fell victim to a technical but serious error in the early 1990s, from which it has not recovered. As a more recent project I am also working on related philosophical/scientific issues surrounding Neural Correlates of Consciousness.

Professional Service

• 2012. Referee, Philosophical Psychology
• 2012. Referee, Erkenntis
• 2012. Reviewer. Choice. (Short philosophy reviews for libraries.)
• 2012. Referee, Society for Philosophy and Psychology.
• 2012. Referee, Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology.

Publications

• Keaton, D. Forthcoming. "Constitution, Identity, and Realization." For The Constitution of Consciousness, S. Miller (ed.), Amsterdam: John Benjamin Publishing. (invited book chapter)
• Keaton, D. 2012. "Kim's Supervenience Argument and the Nature of Total Realizers." European Journal of Philosophy 20 (2): 243-259. (refereed journal article)
• Keaton, D. 2010. "Two Kings of Role Property." Philosophia 38: 773-788. (refereed journal article)

Presentations

• 2013. w/ Thomas Polger. American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, San Francisco, California. "Exclusion, Still not Tracted." (refereed conference; 5000-word symposium paper.)
• 2012. American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division, Seattle, Washington. "Exclusion, Yet Again." (refereed conference)
• 2012. Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Boulder, Colorado. "An Old-School Approach to Mental Causation." (refereed conference)
• 2012. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Savannah, Georgia. "An Old-School Approach to Mental Causation." (refereed conference)
• 2012. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Savannah, Georgia. Commentary on Berger, "Consciousness is not a Property of State." (conference commentary)
• 2011. American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Minneapolis, Minnesota. "Exclusion, Casual Role Realization, and Realization as Determination." (refereed conference)
• 2011. University of Mississippi. "Taking Functionalism Seriously in the Search for Neural Correlates of Consciousness." (invited lecture)
• 2010. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Atlanta Georgia. Commentary on Ronal Endicott, "Realization, Reductios, and Category Inclusion." (conference commentary)
• 2010. (w/ Thomas Polger) Consciousness Online. Commentary on Adam Pautz, "Why Consciousness Can't Just be in the Head: A New Argument against Biological Theories." (conference commentary)
• 2009. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Savannah, Georgia. "Realization and Property Instances." (refereed conference)
• 2009. Charles Phelps Taft Research Center Annual Symposium, University of Cincinnati. "On the Very Idea of Realization in the Philosophy of Mind." (invited lecture)
• 2008. American Philosophical Association, Central Division, Chicago, Illinois. "A Critique of Carl Gillett's Dimensioned Realization." (refereed conference)
• 2008. Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, New Orleans, Louisiana. Commentary on Carl Gillett, "The Diversity of Research Programs and Concepts of "Realization': A Response to Polger." (conference commentary)

Fellowships

• 2008-2009. Dissertation Fellowship, The Charles Phelps Taft Research Center (University of Cincinnati)
• 2004-2007. University Distinguished Graduate Student Fellowship, University of Cincinnati

Grants & Awards

• 2009. Competitive Travel Grant, Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology.
• 2008. Travel for Research Grant, The Charles Phelps Taft Research Center (University of Cincinnati).
• 2007. Travel for Research Grant, The Charles Phelps Taft Research Center (University of Cincinnati).

More Information:

AFFILIATIONS

• American Philosophical Association
• Society for Philosophy and Psychology
• Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology

Website

http://sites.google.com/site/dougkeatonspage

Professional Profile:

Academic Appointments

• 2012-2013. Flagler College - Visiting Assistant Professor
• 2010-2012. University of Arkansas at Little Rock - Visiting Assistant Professor

Education

• 2010. Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Cincinnati
  Dissertation: Realization and Causal Role-Playing: an Essay on the Mind/Body Problem
  Committee: Thomas Polger (director), Christopher Gauker, Robert Skipper, Carl Gillett (Northern Illinois University)
• 2007. M.A., Philosophy, University of Cincinnati
• 1993. B.A., English, Ohio University

Areas of Specialization

• Philosophy of Mind, Metaphysics

Areas of Competence

• History of Early Analytic Philosophy
• Philosophy of Language, Philosophy of Science

Teaching and Related Service:

Teaching

At Flagler College

• Introduction to Philosophy
• Ethics
• Philosophy of Science
• Symbolic Logic

At the University of Arkansas at Little Rock

• Introduction to Philosophy
• Critical Thinking
• Symbolic Logic (on campus and online)
• Ethics and Society (on campus and online)
• Existentialism
• Seminar: Morality and Fiction
• Seminar: Minds and Machines

At the University of Cincinnati as graduate student (w/ full responsibility)

• Introduction to Philosophy: Mind and Will
• Minds and Machine
• History of Twentieth Century Philosophy
• Introduction to Philosophy through Movies

University / Department Service

• 2012. Oracle Awards Committee. (UALR) (department student awards)
• 2012. Faculty Excellence Committee. (UALR)
• 2012. Chair, Donaghey Scholars Project Committee, Jessica Fawley, "Towards a Unified Theory of Imaginative Resistance". (UALR) (winner: university-wide Friedman Award for outstanding honors thesis)
• 2011. Oracle Awards Committee. (UALR) (department student awards)
• 2011. Student Assessment Committee. (UALR)
• 2011. Faculty Excellence Committee. (UALR)
• 2008-2009. President, Philosophy Graduate Student Organization. (UC)
• 2007. Assisted with Annual Colloquium: Race in the Age of Genomic Medicine. (UC)
• 2005-2006. Department Representative, Graduate Student Senate. (UC)