Speaker: Michael Quinn, University of Glasgow

I analyse the effectiveness of teaching ‘The Extended Mind’ thesis (EMT), a seminal paper by Andy Clarke & David Chalmers (1998), at high-school level through engaging with Christopher Nolan’s Memento (2000). I offer a charitable account of how these concepts could be taught without fiction, but ultimately demonstrate that this approach is inherently limited in terms of how it relates to students, its accessibility and what it asks of them. As I discuss the ‘traditional’ lessons, which are interspersed with addressing relevant pedagogical themes by teaching EMT in this way, I ruminate on example assessment questions based on the topic. I also evaluate the pedagogical and philosophical limitations of teaching these concepts engaging directly with Clark & Chalmers’ text. With regards to teaching using Memento, I elucidate on selected classroom tasks while focusing on more general upshots such as improving understanding, emotional engagement and creativity. Students are also encouraged to reflect on the philosophical implications of EMT, particularly with reference to their use of modern technology. I postulate that engaging with fictional narratives offers wider, and longer lasting, benefits and opens more doors for students to begin their own intellectual, philosophical journeys both during and upon completion of the course.

Michael Quinn is currently undertaking a PhD project in the Philosophy of Education at the University of Glasgow. I make the case that there are situations when speculative fiction, a mode particularly interested in philosophical conundrums in its “thought experiments”, can offer alternative, and perhaps more effective, methods of teaching foundational and complex philosophical concepts when compared with traditional philosophical discourse. Speculative fiction and film (fantasy and neo-noir) and traditional philosophical discourse “do” philosophy but in radically different ways. Choosing major philosophical preoccupations, knowledge & doubt, epistemology of memory and morality, which are also central concerns of representative examples of speculative fiction and film, he evaluates the various pedagogical methods and results produced by these contrasting modes. He completed a MLitt in Fantasy in 2018 at Glasgow and I am interested in exploring intersections between literature, film and philosophy as well as how they complement one another. Michael has taught English in high schools in Scotland, Spain and Australia and adore almost all things speculative fiction, but mainly H.G.Wells, Ursula Le Guin and, of course, Kurt Vonnegut. He is also interested in science fiction on screen, particularly The Blade Runner series, Star Wars and anything AI related.