Projects

This page describes philosophy endeavours that are not research, media, or teaching. 

An overarching and unifying aim of my life is to create spaces for people to share and co-create interesting ideas. My event organising, community facilitating, editing, art gallery curatorial workand some of my writing, research, personal artwork, and circus performingcan be seen as a Gesamtkunstwerk that converges towards this overarching aim. My teaching, friendships, and public philosophy are also influenced by this overarching aim.

Creating spaces for people to share and co-create interesting ideas sometimes requires innovating away from the standard objection-first, adversarial norms of academia, towards other ways of gathering. Until I think of a better term, I'll call this "the art of academic gathering".


Table of Contents

Art of Academic Gathering: Bodies of Researchers

My ikigai is ‘the art of academic gathering'. That is, bringing scholars together in innovative ways to develop supportive research communities. 


My ‘art of academic gathering’ projects consider how body position and conversational contexts, such as being outside, walking together, or sitting on the floor change the kinds of thoughts and comments that researchers have. We can use embodied cognition to improve academic research communities. 




Gathering Ideas

(I will add to this later. It will become a full webpage or website.)


Build in a 'espirit de l'escalier' session each morning. In the first session of the day (starting on day two of the conference), participants discuss talks from the previous day. This gives people the opportunity to discuss ideas that arose in later conversations or percolated overnight. It allows the sharing of 'slower' ideas to the group, and speakers can respond to questions after further contemplation. A 'espirit de l'escalier' session helps de-centralise the importance of quick thinking in academia. (I owe this nomenclature to Cat Saint-Croix.)


The chat should focus on making the Q&A better: What potential questions are most useful? Timid question-askers can 'feel out' whether their question seems worthwhile to a small group. The garrulous can work on shortening their question, or quenching their 'need' to talk before the Q&A begins.


The Q&A can be seen as a collaborative "report back" session: What were the most valuable insights from the discussions that the speaker, and other participants should hear?  


What does the presenter do during the chat? The presenter should feel free to 'slip out' during this session, if they think participating would hamper their 'Q&A performance'. Other participants are expected to participate, and focus on the talk topic. Assuming the presenter stays, they will be engaging in one of the conversations about their session. 


Online talks can use 'Break Out Rooms' to create this pre-Q&A discussion time.


Suppose you invited someone to speak at a colloquium or conference. You probably appreciate or respect their way of thinking. So why limit their voice to just their talk topic? Consider setting aside a few minutes during their session (before their actual talk begins or after the Q&A) to ask them a few general questions. Here are some ideas: 


- What are your further research projects / what else are you working on / where might this research go next?

- How did you become interested in this specific topic?

- How does this project relates to your other research (if not already described)

- Why this project or topic matters to non-academics/to society/ to people outside of your field? (Frame this carefully, to avoid offence! Perhaps imply it is a standard question that you ask every speaker.)

- What topics do you think are under-explored in your sub-discipline?

- What is the most illuminating approach/question in the area that you don't use/focus on?

- What is your pet hate in your sub-discipline / what do you think is an unhelpful approach?

- Can you say anything interesting about your approach to writing / research that might help early career / less prolific people?

- Meta-philosophy (methodology): what are the hallmarks of success for philosophy / the aims of philosophy?

- If you were to make a graduate seminar by combining three topics or questions that aren't often combined, what would they be? 


These questions allow the audience to hear some 'hot takes'. It could be especially valuable for grad students, or for people who didn't follow or care about the talk. It can seed good conversations at the reception / dinner. 

  
I do this for Zoom speakers in graduate classes. Best practices: (i.) See whether the speaker is happy with this and email the questions to the speaker in advance. (ii.) clearly schedule question-time into the session. So, for example, a two-hour session, the Q&A ends at 1:52, and the final eight minutes is for these kinds of questions. (iii.) I would only ask four questions. (iv.) I would seek feedback about about whether this was more valuabke than the extra 8 minutes of Q&A.   


Event organisers, Consider asking yourself this: What things did I receive from my teachers and community at grad school that helped me flourish that I no longer receive, now that I have graduated? How my event innovate to help offer that same value to post-PhD researchers? 


Grad school is set up to help people learn. We can use some of those same norms and ways of gathering to help research communities flourish. Examples: Receiving and giving feedback on early drafts, giving presentations on influential or recent publications, work-in-progress circles, a chance to air out new ideas with people before deciding whether to pursue them, etc.


When you send the talk invitation, tell them polished talks are not welcome. Only embryonic ideas are allowed. As a guideline, if they have already presented the idea elsewhere, it is already too well developed for the research cocoon you are building. 


They will only have 15-25 minutes to present. This is because you don't want to hear every potential counter-argument and response, or rival view and its flaws. You just want them to cut to the chase of some new idea that might or might not work. It's a 'popcorn talk'. 


This creates an opportunity for the person to receive feedback on a newly emerging idea. If they try to impress the audience with a well-developed idea then they have wasted this opportunity, by giving a talk that they could have presented somewhere else.


If you are too shy to say this yourself, direct them to this website and they can read it here instead.




Importantly, she was keen on this idea. And her invitation to the event was was not conditional on this innovation! Indeed, she was a co-organiser and one of my very dearest friends.



People talk and think differently when walking together. They might be more collaborative sitting in a circle. Ideas are more expansive, and less analytical, when the room has a higher ceiling? What happens, then, when people sit on the floor. 


Can you hold a session in a graveyard? Or, at least, spend 30 minutes in a graveyard between the lunch hour and the afternoon sessions? It could shift the tone and content of the conversations for the remainder of the conference. Indeed, it might help those researchers develop more valuable and significant long-term research relationships.


We think, feel, and talk differently in different physical environments. Yet we convene for philosophy discussions in the same six physical places. (Large conference room, small conference room, room with tables in a circle, loud restaurant, bar, walking to the bar.) This choice of convening locations might be homogenising of research.


"I have noticed that when all the lights are on, people tend to talk about what they are doing – their outer lives. Sitting round in candlelight or firelight, people start to talk about how they are feeling – their inner lives. They speak subjectively, they argue less, there are longer pauses. 

To sit alone without any electric light is curiously creative. I have my best ideas at dawn or at nightfall, but not if I switch on the lights – then I start thinking about projects, deadlines, demands, and the shadows and shapes of the house become objects, not suggestions, things that need to done, not a background to thought."— Jeanette Winterson

Some of the best conversations happen on the walk between the restaurant and the bar. When designing a gathering, perhaps ask yourself, can everyone leave their bags somewhere and take a slightly longer walk? Can this be done in an accessible way, and one that is not vulnerable to the vagaries of weather?


Suppose one wants to run a wilderness conference, but worries that it is exclusionary: How would wheelchair users attend? I am not an expert in this, but here are four thoughts: 


1.) Consult with experts! Don't reinvent the wheel. Others have forged these paths before you. There are many accessible nature groups, who want to help. Google your region to find one.

I think that if is possible for tall ship sailing, it is possible for philosophy under the stars. (I have a background in tall ship sailing. I never sailed that ship, but I toured it during voyages with a sister charity.) These innovations need people to try it, whilst learning from disability groups. 


2.) Innovation in these directions can help make philosophy more inclusive and accessible to all, including when back in orthodox campus and hotel based gatherings. If we expand what is possible for academic gatherings, including in nature, it can change the norms when we convene in cities.

3.) Ask specific individuals. If you have specific individuals in mind, ask them for ideas. They are the true experts.


4.) Facilitation is a skill. And all skills can be developed. This means you can break the mould now, to change what is possible later. Perhaps consider facilitating a wilderness conference as a developmental stage: That is, running initial conferences in the wilderness can help you better understand how to do this with various disabled participants. (Note, though, that forging ahead cannot replace consulting with the experts!)


If you think convening in nature is a cognitive and social benefit, then (I think) it is worth transcending these apparent boundaries, towards more inclusive and radical modes of gathering.




Media on the Art of Academic Gathering


 
Other Conference Innovation Ideas

Local Philosophy Question
Suppose you run a large annual conference, and you want to connect philosophically to the locale. Philosophers have gifts: Their ability to facilitate discussion, help people think through ideas, and provide perspectives. In turn, the academics can learn about the area and be inspired by site-specific philosophy questions and reasoning.

As the organiser, you can ask locals for local philosophy questions they would love a merry troupe of travelling philosophers to discuss. You can then host a  discussion  panel  on that topic. Indeed, you can even do it at the local tavern.

This way, you can create a novel outreach event, offer a service, and break up the monotony of the conference. 

For browny points, you could offer to create an educational resource about the topic for local schools. To do this, record 3-6 philosophers speaking for 2-5 min each on the topic -- offering their hot takes -- edit those videos together, post them on YouTube, and tell the relevant local teachers. 

___________

Examples from cities I lived in:

1.) New Orleans:

a.) What should we make of Nicolas Cage's pyramid tomb stone? Should he have a right to do that? Should we remove it?

b.) Love potions: Is it okay to sell and use products designed to steer other people's affections?

2.) Knoxville:

a.) How should we understand invasive species? What (if anything) should we do about them?

Invasive species removal at Ijams Urban Wilderness generates a case study about volunteer time and resources, and an opportunity to think through the emotions of the hydra-headed snake or Sisyphean tasks of climate change.

b.) What might reparations for environmental exploitation look like? Is it too late, wrt to logging operations?

Conference Fringe Events


Why the Fringe?

At large conferences, I sometimes facilitate events that are not on the programme.They are fringe events. 


The fringe doesn't conform. It is not sanctioned by the dominant institutions, and so it is free to innovate. The fringe eschews existing expectations: Provider-payee; audience-actor; expert-learner. Free from the confines of standardised professionalism and social scripts, it can re-ask: What are we doing, and why? 


The fringe nourishes the mainstream, by igniting novelty. A huge gathering of philosophers, like the PPE or APA, warrants a fringe.


Some of the events on this page are fringe events at large conferences. 

Teaching Philosophy with Art, Play, & Adventure

An informal chat to share ideas and brainstorm strategies. 

Teaching through art and play is increasingly important, as reading declines and Chat GPT use increases.

All welcome.

_______________

Saturday 16th November, 3.45pm - 5.15pm.

That is, during PPE Session 12.

At the PPE hotel bar, 11th floor.

This is a fringe event. It is not on the PPE programme.

Philosophy Through Play

What is Philosophy Through Theatre Games (PTTG)?

PTTG uses interactive, participatory activities to bring philosophy to life. It adapts engaging, thought-provoking games to explore philosophical questions.

It builds on the expertise of theatre game facilitators, and leading

It aims to enrich classroom teaching, and to create new possibilities for community-engaged philosophy and K-12 (school) outreach. That is, it creates interactive philosophy in schools and in the community that isn't modelled on adversarial debate, panels, or talks-followed-by-Q&As. It is a new model for public philosophy.

***

PTTG has two branches at this stage:

(A.) Running events in the community, and sessions in high schools, to build experience.

(B.) "Train the trainers". That is, creating workshops to inspire and empower professional philosophers to do Philosophy Through Theatre Games in their own classrooms and communities.

To do this, we are creating a network of people who are interested in building this initiative.

Some activities are below.

We are grateful to the Berry Fund of the APA and the University of Tennessee Humanities Center for supporting this endeavour, and to Jessamyn Fitzpatrick for volunteering her time and expertise to help launch the initiative.


A Free, Fringe, How-To Workshop.

Philosophy Through Theatre Games (PTTG) Workshop during the 2024 Eastern APA, Wednesday, 17th Jan, 2024. This is a fringe, off-programme workshop, with philosopher Georgi Gardiner and theatre games expert Jessamyn Fitzpatrick. 

Who?

Georgi Gardiner is a philosopher, circus performer, and director of a lowkey countercultural community arts and gathering venue. Jessamyn Fitzpatrick is a theatre games expert. She specialises in interactive participatory games to generate deep conversations and change social scripts. Jessmyn typically focuses on sex positivity, gender, equity, pleasure, and social justice. 


What?

This workshop adapt games and activities to explore philosophy. Participants will learn Jessamyn's recipe for creating theatre games, and apply her recipe to philosophy teaching, public outreach, and more. 


We will do/explain examples of Philosophy Through Theatre Games. Participants can share ideas and co-create new ideas about how games and facilitated activities can enhance philosophy.


Climate Change, Language Change: 

Creating a Vocabulary of Healing Through Theatre Games 


An evening of participatory theatre games to explore our emotions about climate change. 


Full Information Sheet Here (Link)

To heal from trauma or to process emotions, we need to tell our stories. To tell these stories, people need apposite words and concepts. These words and ideas are known as “hermeneutical resources”. Without these cognitive resources—the ingredients of thought—emotional processing can be stymied. People cannot describe their experiences to themselves or to others, and so cannot adequately comprehend their social and emotional circumstances. 

We are experiencing a climate catastrophe. We lack the hermeneutical resources to understand its emotional toll. We feel the emotions, but we lack the words to name, describe, and discuss them. These hermeneutical lacunae contribute to an entangled web of emotional, mental, physical, environmental, and economic harms. 

This gap is the play-space of the workshop. We will ask: What words do we lack? What terms could we invent, if we felt free to play? What emotions do we feel, yet seldom feel in community because we lack the words to name them? 

Theatre games are a powerful tool for conceptual exploration and innovation. They allow us to collaboratively innovate new terms to understand emotions. In this philosophy through theatre games workshop, everyone is a participant and no one is an expert. We will play with ideas. 

Funded by: UTHC and One Health at UTK as part of One Health and Humanities Days
By invitation.

High School Outreach

 
My graduate student, Dario Vaccaro, and I are bringing this initiative into high schools. High School Ethics Bowl appeals to the "debate team" students; Philosophy Through Theatre Games will appeal to "theatre kids". This brings a variety of philosophical modes to K-12 students.

Please contact me for information or if you would like to be involved. 

Magazine editors, activists, theatre directors, librarians, teachers, and scholars 

Intergenerational activities that imagine conversations with
future generations

Founding director of NimBioS, Louis Gross, & Georgi, helping create a five-person tableau 

Reflections on the words we need, but lack, to describe emotions about climate change

The Ethics of Attention
CEU Institute 

1st-5th July 2024, Budapest


CEU Course Website


Secondary information page (Link)


Directors:

Guest Teachers:

Course Assistants and Admin


Topics include attentional virtues, norms, rights, activism, aims, flourishing, character, power, & inequality. Participants first survey major theories of attention, including in Asian philosophy, analytic philosophy, and psychology. We then apply these frameworks to real-life case studies about technology, media, AI, advertising, power, prejudice, bias, colonialism, art, love, friendship, religion, self-improvement, mental health, the body, science research, and skepticism about vaccines, pandemics, and climate change.

UTK News Coverage (Link)

This work received support from the Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) under grant number IHS017504 and from the Open Society University Network (OSUN). We are grateful for this support.

 The Philosophy of Sexual Violence
(Edited Volume) 

eds. Yolonda Wilson & Georgi Gardiner
Routledge, 2024

In addition to standard essays, we welcome experimental philosophical contributions, such as poems, artworks, letters, short stories, manifestos, and diary entries. This flexibility of format reflects that thinking philosophically about rape often happens in conversations, community, diary entries, and artworks, rather than in standard academic essays. It also honours the rich feminist, Black, and non-Western traditions of varied scholarly engagement and formats. 

The hardback version will be $170 / £130. The eBook and paperback versions will be $52.95/£38.99

Center for Applied Epistemology

Details Coming Soon. (Funding application available on request.)

The Philosophers CoWork Cafe

It's on Zoom. All welcome.
Find the community here.

Details and pictures coming soon. 

The First Gen Philosophers Club

Here

Online community fitness sessions (link)

Chat, then work out, in community. 

Online, fitness-based community events for philosophers. 

The Coursier Cross Library

As an undergraduate at Edinburgh University, I started this library.

The name honours two brilliant young women, Mim Cross and Charlotte Coursier, who both studied Philosophy at Edinburgh and passed away shortly afterwards.

Mim donated the very first books to the library. She handed them to me in what is now 56 North (at 2W Crosscauseway). Charlotte published in the PhilSoc journal during her time at Edinburgh University 

Reflections Retreat:
Philosophical Reflections on Life Experiences

Mountain retreat workshop to generate new public-facing philosophy, supported by UTHC. This event has received $9,000 in competitive grants so far.

Proposed Event Description (link)

Note: This event has ben indefinitely postponed. I have left the University of Tennessee. I remain grateful to the Denbo Humanities Center for Humanities and the Arts for their generous support of my projects in the art of gathering. I am thrilled to continue similar projects at Tulane University in New Orleans.


The New Ethics of Belief Retreat

At Narrow Ridge
Off-grid in the Appalachian Mountains

In Autumn 2021 I did a vision fast at Narrow Ridge Intentional Living Community. Before and after the time on the mountain, the vision fasters conversed as a group. I was struck by how  deep, rich, and powerful our conversations were, in just a few days. I wanted to bring this power to academic research contexts. In Spring 2022, I brought early career scholars to the same off-grid location in the mountains for a philosophy retreat. 

The philosophy retreat had almost no standard talks. We instead experimented with a range of conversation structures. We aimed to cultivate new, embryonic ideas in applied epistemology. This event fomented my passion for "the art of academic gathering". 

Epistemology Working Group

My advanced students and I meet regularly to workshop each other's research. Description here. 


Philosophical Art

The Interstitial

- Collaborative art that explored metaphysical ideas, at Broadway Studios and Gallery. 

The Interstitial

- Collaborative art that explored metaphysical ideas, at Broadway Studios and Gallery. 

- Received third place in the Gaudy Gold Frame Competition, March 2023. (Pictured left.)

- The competition rules said 'Anything in a gold frame is fair game'. Our pieces explored what kinds of things can be within a frame. It asked whether magnetic fields, tastes, smells, potential energy, etc. are spatiotemporally located. 

Local Producer

- For Plato’s The Apology of Socrates a touring play about the death of Socrates, starring Yannis Simonides, Edinburgh 2009.

Assistant Curator

- For ColloquiArt, an exhibition of philosophical art, the GRV Gallery, Edinburgh, March 2008.

Best Event

- Edinburgh University Students Union, for Poetry Underground, a philosophical poetry slam and cabaret series, March 2008.


Play Times: Art Exhibition

Brief explanation. (Please see this Artist Statement (Link) for more.)

The Art of Gathering

For one week, I attended my normal 'third spaces' in Knoxville. At each place, I invited those people to co-create art. The guideline was that every line should be made collaboratively.

 

This could be drawing around each other, guiding each other, instructing each other, holding a pen together, hands tied together, etc.

 

The objects hanging in the exhibition are not the artwork. They are a byproduct. The artwork is an intervention: Inviting people to play and create. It is their playing and creating. 

The resulting objects are only a byproduct of the arts of play. The art is the art of gathering. 

Knowledge in Crisis


I am an international collaborator on the Austrian 'Knowledge in Crisis' project. More details coming soon. 

The project involves researchers at CEU, and the Universities of Vienna, Graz and Salzburg. The board of Directors is Tim Crane, Katalin Farkas, Jason Means, Paulina Sliwa, Marian David, Max Kölbel, Hans Bernhard Schmid, and Charlotte Werndl. 

The four international collaborators are me, Jessie Munton, Jason Stanley, and Quassim Cassam. 


Daily Nous update. 



Philosophy Through Theatre Games