Cameron Shelley

Cameron Shelley is a Lecturer in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. He has held Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and has previously been a Visiting Scholar at the Philosophy Department at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Dr. Shelley’s research interests include the philosophy of design, social impact of technology, explanatory and analogical reasoning, and cognitive irony. He has taught a variety of courses including Cities, Technology & Society, Design & Society, Biotechnology & Society, Information Technology & Society, among others.

In addition to his research work, Dr. Shelley has received multiple awards such as the UWaterloo Alumni Association Gold Medal for best Ph.D. dissertation.

See Dr. Shelley's Google Scholar page for a list of his publications.

• Social determinants of technology, Social impacts of technology, philosophy of design, explanatory reasoning, cognitive irony

• 1999, Doctorate PhD, University of Waterloo, Ontario

• 1994, Master's MA, University of Waterloo, Ontario

• 1992, Master's MMath, University of Waterloo, Ontario

• 1990, Bachelor's BSc, McMaster University, Ontario

• STV 202 - Design and Society
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• STV 208 - Artificial Intelligence and Society: Impact, Ethics, and Equity
  • Taught in 2022, 2023, 2024
• STV 305 - Technology, Society and the Modern City
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025
• STV 306 - Biotechnology and Society
  • Taught in 2020, 2021, 2022
• SYDE 730 - Selected Topics in Societal-Environmental Systems
  • Taught in 2023, 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• Shelley, Cameron, Philosophy and Cognitive Science Ii, , , 2015

• Shelley, Cameron, The nature of simplicity in Apple design, The Design Journal, 439, 2015

• Shelley, Cameron, Multiple analogies in archaeology, Philosophy of Science, 579, 1999

• Shelley, Cameron, Ideology in Bio-inspired Design, Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology, 43, 2016

• Shelley, Cameron, Biomorphism and models in design, Philosophy and Cognitive Science II, 209, 2015

• Shelley, Cameron, Does Everyone Think, or Is It Just Me?, Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology, 477, 2010

• Thagard, Paul and Shelley, Cameron, Abductive reasoning: Logic, visual thinking, and coherence, Logic and scientific methods, 413, 1997

• Shelley, Cameron, Multiple analogies in science and philosophy, , , 2003

• Shelley, C, Phantoms in the brain: probing the mysteries of the human mind, , , 1999