My central research examines the relationship between language and cognitive control, with a special focus on the moral and functional dimensions of inner speech, that is, our ‘internal monologue’ that accompanies much of our thinking. In a book project in process, I offer an account of our responsibility (or lack thereof) for what we ‘say’ in our heads, and I analyze the various functions of inner speech that explain why we ‘talk’ to ourselves. I develop a model of cognitive control that elucidates when we are and are not responsible for our inner speech, especially our more intrusive self-talk and the aberrant inner speech associated with various mental health conditions, like obsessive-compulsive, perinatal mood, and anxiety disorders. Regarding its cognitive functions, I argue that inner speech is the necessary medium for various forms of abstract cognition, like mathematical cognition and theory of mind. Thus, I establish that we ‘talk’ to ourselves through inner speech because we must if we are to engage in abstract thinking of this sort.
 
My research also explores how the language used in political engagement affects moral deliberation. As I demonstrate, language specific narratives are crucial for storing and accessing moral norms in memory. Particular norms and patterns of moral cognition are cued by the language used to store those norms. I argue that various forms of politicized in-speak (e.g., the use of terms like “woke” and “social justice warrior”) can generate an insular form of moral cognition that contributes to polarization. Relatedly, I argue that certain features of cognitive control can help explain why the prevalence of political misinformation is especially troubling for cognitive agents like us. I offer an account of cognitive control that elucidates why we can exert direct control over certain mental activity, like imagination, but not over our beliefs or apparent memories. As I demonstrate, certain media environments make it particularly difficult to separate information we genuinely believe from misinformation we’ve merely entertained or imagined.

published articles

  1. Misleading Higher-Order Evidence and Rationality: We Can’t Always Rationally Believe What We Have Evidence to Believe" Episteme (forthcoming) 
  2. “What’s So Special About Reasoning? Rationality, Belief Updating, and Internalism” Ergo (forthcoming) 
  3. “Echo Chambers, Polarization, and ‘Post-truth’: In Search of a Connection” Philosophical Psychology (2023). https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2023.2174426 
  4. “Semiotics in the Head: Thinking About and Thinking through Symbols” Philosophy and Phenomenological Research (2022). https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12923 
  5. “What it Takes to Make a Word (Token),” Synthese (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11229-022-03751-6 
  6. “Thinking Through Talking to Yourself: Inner Speech as a Vehicle of Conscious Reasoning,” Philosophical Psychology (2022). https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2022.2042505 
  7. “Evidentialism and Occurrent Belief: You Aren’t Justified in Believing Everything Your Evidence Clearly Supports,” Erkenntnis (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10670-021-00490-x 
  8. “Why Are You Talking to Yourself? The Epistemic Role of Inner Speech in Reasoning,” Noûs (2021). https://doi.org/10.1111/nous.12385 
  9. “The Challenge of Heritability: Genetic Determinants of Beliefs and Their Implications,” Inquiry. 63.8 (2020): 831-874 
  10. “Reasoning, Rational Requirements, and Representation,” Synthese. 198.9 (2020): 8323-8345 
  11.  “Rationality, Reasoning Well, and Extramental Props,” Res Philosophica. 96.2 (2019): 175-198 
  12.  “Words on Psycholinguistics,” The Journal of Philosophy. 113.12 (2016): 593-616 
  13.  “Testimonial Injustice and Prescriptive Credibility Deficits,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy. 46.6 (2016): 924-947

book chapters

  1. “Unconscious Inference Theories of Cognitive Achievement,” with Kirk Ludwig, In Inference and Consciousness, edited by Timothy Chan and Anders Nes, Routledge (2019) 
  2. ​“Talking to Ourselves: Inner Speech and Natural Language as the Language of Thought” In Neurocognitive Foundations of Mind, Routledge (forthcoming)

   other media
  1. “The Causal Antecedents of Mental and Motor Imagery,” blog post for The Brain Blog, https://philosophyofbrains.com/ (forthcoming)

   work in progress

  1. Talking to Ourselves: The Cognitive and Moral Dimensions of Inner Speech (Book Manuscript)
  2. “Why Can’t We Just Believe What We Want? Metacognition, Cognitive Control, and Functional-M Tagging” (Under Review)
  3. “Are Large Language Models Language Users?” (In Progress)
  4. “Suggestion Systems as Extended Rumination” (In Progress)