Dr. Brandon Beasley

Pronouns: he/him

Positions

Sessional Instructor

Faculty of Arts, Department of Philosophy

Contact information

Web presence

Brandon's website

Background

Educational Background

PhD Philosophy, University of Calgary, 2024

MA Philosophy, Dalhousie University, 2010

BA (Honours, First Class) Philosophy, University of Calgary, 2009

Biography

I work on pragmatist approaches to intentionality, meaning, and normativity, animated by the question of the place of mind and agency in the natural world. My dissertation argues that such a pragmatist view must avoid a problem which is, roughly, a naturalistic and pragmatist analogue of Descartes' interaction problem, except between 'meaning' and 'habit' instead of between mind-stuff and body-stuff. I also work on Kant and Hegel, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, and, in general, the intersections between German Idealism, pragmatism, and analytic philosophy.

Research

Areas of Research

Pragmatism, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Language, Hegel, Normativity and Naturalism, Intentionality, Meaning, and Content

Courses

Course number	Course title	Semester
PHIL 201	Mind, Matter, and God	Winter 2025
PHIL 335	Asian Philosophy	Winter 2025
PHIL 399.26	Special Topics: Reason and Nature	Spring 2025

Awards

Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, SSHRC. 2015
Michael Smith Foreign Study Supplement, SSHRC. 2017
Graduate Student Essay Award, UCalgary Department of Philosophy. 2020

Publications

(contracted) Pragmatism and the Problem of Reason in Nature: Meaning, Naturalism, and the Threat of Semantic Nihilism. Routledge. (2025)
(forthcoming) Intentionality and Representation. In The Sellarsian Mind, ed. Jeremy Koons (Routledge). (2024)
(forthcoming) "Sellars in Light of Dewey: Pragmatism and the Place of Mind in Nature". In Carl Sachs, ed., Interpreting Sellars: Critical Essays (Cambridge University Press). (2024)
Naturalism without a subject: Huw Price's pragmatism. Inquiry. (2023)
What should the idealist critique of naturalism be? . Inquiry. (2023)
Appreciating the Mind of a Friend: A Josiah Royce Autograph Inscription About William James. William James Studies. 84-92. (2024)