John Turri

Professor, Canada Research Chair in Philosophy and Cognitive Science (on leave)
Portrait of John Turri

Areas of interest

Experimental philosophy and cognitive science

Current research

Professor Turri directs the Philosophical Science Lab. The lab mainly uses online behavioral experiments to answer questions about concepts, judgments, and practices central to commonsense cognition and communication. Broadly speaking, topically, this has fallen into four (or so) categories: epistemology (knowledge, belief, evidence, reasons), language (speech acts, norms), ethics (duties, blame, excuse), and metaphysics (agency, luck, abilities, identity). We practice open science, value viewpoint diversity, eschew intolerance, and oppose the politicization of research or the workplace.

Graduate students comfortable with that combination of methodology, topical focus, and ethos, and interested in working in the lab should contact Professor Turri to discuss their plans.

For a fuller description, see Professor Turri’s research page and lab page.

Areas of graduate supervision

  • experimental epistemology
  • experimental ethics
  • experimental philosophy of language
  • experimental metaphysics
  • interdisciplinary synthesis of research findings relevant to experimental philosophy, including developmental, comparative, computational, biological, and cultural evidence

Undergraduate supervision

Waterloo undergraduates interested in applying for an NSERC-USRA to work in the lab should contact Professor Turri to discuss their plans.

Select publications

For a complete list, see Professor Turri’s publication page.

Selected grants, fellowships, awards

  • 2016-: College of the Royal Society of Canada
  • 2016-: Canada Research Chair
  • 2015–22: SSHRC Insight Grant
  • 2012–17: Ontario Early Researcher Award
  • 2011–15: SSHRC Standard Research Grant

Selected supervisions

  • Experimental philosophy
  • Punitive evaluation
  • Commonsense morality
  • Social cognition
  • Avian theory of mind

For a complete list, see Professor Turri’s teaching page.

Contact information

jturri@uwaterloo.ca
519-888-4567 x42639
Office: HH 333
Website