About
Associate Professor
B.A. Oxford (Physics and Philosophy)
Ph.D. MIT (Dept of Linguistics and Philosophy)
My research is mainly in the philosophy of mind and cognitive science. I am interested in the extent to which computational theories can (or cannot) explain mental phenomena such as reasoning, consciousness and the will.
Many of my projects are also related to critical thinking. I offer courses and workshops in critical thinking regularly, and sometimes participate in consultancy projects. I am hoping to finish a textbook on critical thinking by the summer of 2008.
Got too much time? Procrastinating? Then you can visit my other sites:
- Visit my wiki for my course web sites and teaching notes. I also have a blog for news clippings and to keep in touch with former students.
- Critical Thinking Web - A teaching project of mine. This web site has a lot of learning material on critical thinking, logic, and creativity.
Books and book chapters
- "The nature of emotions". Book chapter on Martha Nussbaum's theory of emotions with her reply. In Nussbaum, Chan, Lau and Ci (2007). Hochelaga Lectures 2005. The Ethics and Politics of Compassion and Capabilities. The Faculty of Law, The University of Hong Kong.
- Chapters on dualism, AI, and consciousness. In Thomas Ming (ed.) (2006) Twenty Problems in Philosophy: A Brief Introduction to Contemporary Philosophy. McGraw-Hill. [errata]
- Goldstein, Brennan, Deutsch, and Lau (2005). Logic (Key Concepts in Philosophy). Continuum International Publishing Group.
- A miniguide to critical thinking (2003) - A short booklet available online for free. To be reprinted in Critical Thinking: Concepts and Applications. The Institute of Chartered Financial Analysts of India Press. (forthcoming?)
Papers
- Entry on "propositional attitudes". Forthcoming in Patrick Colm Hogan (ed.) The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Language Sciences Cambridge University Press.
- Externalism about Mental Content (2002) - A survey article for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
- A short entry on representational theories of phenomenal content (2001) (with Chris Lau)
- A Substantive Neuron Doctrine Commentary on Gold and Stoljar (1999). A neuron doctrine in the philosophy of neuroscience. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22, 5.
- Review of Michael Tye. Ten problems of Consciousness. MIT Press. In Anthropology and Philosophy, III, 2, Special issue "Consciousness : Analytical and Empirical Approaches", 1999.
- Some Critical Issues in Cognitive Science. Opening keynote address. First Malaysia Cognitive Science Conference, 1998.
- Pietroski on Possible Worlds Semantics for Belief Sentences (PDF). In Analysis, October issue, 1995.
- Interpreted Logical-Forms in Semantics. Conference paper. 10th International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, Florence, Italy, August 1995.
- Possible Worlds Semantics for Belief Sentences. The Logica Yearbook 1997. Discusses the problem of equivalence in possible worlds semantics, including the use of two-dimensional modal logic by Stalnaker and Chalmers in dealing with this problem.
- Review of Michael Redhead (1995). From Physics to Metaphysics. Cambridge University Press. In Philosophical Books, 38:1, January 1997.
- My Ph.D. thesis. Belief in semantics and psychology. There are three chapters - one criticizing possible worlds semantics for belief sentences, another on Martin Davies's a priori argument for the language of thought, and the final one on some bad arguments for narrow content. I guess I still stand by what I have written then.
Other things
- [Chinese, Dec 2004] A short piece on food in Ming Pao
- [Chinese, Nov 2004] On introducing liberal education in Hong Kong [Apple Daily]
- An interview on beauty [Journal of Philosophy Society, 2002]
- [Chinese, big5 format] An article on animal rights
Admin. etc.
- University Teaching Fellowship, HKU (2006)
- Deputy School Head in IT, School of Humanities, HKU (2006-07)
- Head of Department, Department of Philosophy, HKU (2005-2006)
- Director, The HKU Cognitive Science Centre (1998-2003)
- Associate member, Behavioral and Brain Sciences
- I have been involved in consultancy projects relating to critical thinking and aptitude tests for various departments of the Hong Kong Government, as well as local schools and NGOs in Hong Kong.