JOHN SUTTON's PAGE
On February 11 I started in a new research
position in MACCS,
the Macquarie Centre for
Cognitive Science,
at Macquarie University,
Sydney. I
previously worked in
the
Philosophy Department, in the Division
of Society, Culture, Media, and Philosophy.
Tel: (61 2) 9850 4132. The
easiest way
to get in touch is to email me.
My
research
is focussed on the philosophy and sciences of memory,
and covers two main areas: philosophy of psychology/ cognitive science,
and history of science.
My current projects
are i) 'From
autobiographical memory to collective memory: an interdisciplinary
study of individual and group cognition', with Amanda
Barnier;
ii) 'Applying
intelligence to the reflexes: embodied skill and kinesthetic memory,'
with psychologist Doris
McIlwain;
iii) 'Distributed cognition and the extended mind in
early modern
England', history
work with Lyn Tribble
from the Dept of English at Otago;
& iv) 'From the Neuron to the Self: human nature
and
the new cognitive neurosciences', with Amanda Barnier,
Tim Bayne, Max
Coltheart, Wayne Christensen, Stephen
Crain, Robyn Langdon,
Catriona
Mackenzie, and Peter
Menzies (Macquarie University Research Innovation
Fund Grant, 2007-2010). Along with a framework project
on explanation
and levels of explanation
in the
neurosciences, we address 3 themes: agency, emotion & moral
decision-making, and memory.
This work springs
from research done in the project 'Interdisciplinarity
in the sciences of memory: cognition, culture, and
complexity'. I'm
also interested
in embodiment
& habit; the extended mind & distributed
cognition; cognition in small groups;
connectionism; cognition & culture; early
modern philosophy; Descartes; & animal spirits.
PHIL 354 section on The
Philosophy of Habit.
Some recent writings (also see new categorized
publications page)
- (2008) 'Between
Individual and Collective Memory: interaction, coordination,
distribution', in special collective memory issue
of
Social
Research: an international quarterly of the social sciences Winter 2007-08, volume 75 number 1,
23-48
- (2008)
Amanda J. Barnier,
John Sutton, Celia B. Harris, & Robert A. Wilson,
'A
Conceptual and Empirical Framework for the Social Distribution of
Cognition: the case of memory' [prepublication
draft],
in special social cognition issue
of Cognitive Systems Research
9 (1), 33-51.
- (2007) 'Batting,
Habit, and Memory: the embodied mind and the nature of skill',
in special issue on cricket and philosophy: Sport in
Society 10 (5)
- (2007) William
& John Sutton,
'Animal
Spirits', Fortean
Times 219, February 2007, 50-53.
My book,
Philosophy and Memory Traces: Descartes to connectionism, came
out in 1998; and a collection of essays on Descartes'
Natural Philosophy
which I edited with
Stephen Gaukroger and John Schuster was
published
in 2000.
For
a full list of publications and preprint versions of many papers
see my publications
page.
New. Here is a categorized
publications page with my writings categorized into overlapping
research areas.
New. Interview
about memory on Chris
Laidlaw's Sunday show, Radio New Zealand, 3 August.
- I'm coeditor of a new interdisciplinary journal Memory
Studies launched 2008, issue 1
number 2 now out!! Free online
subscription on a trial basis to
volume 1 available.
- I'm on the editorial boards of the journals Philosophical
Psychology; Neuroethics;
Scan: journal of
media arts culture; and the Fibreculture
Journal.
I am always interested in hearing from potential PhD or Masters
students. At present I am primary supervisor for 3 PhD students in
Philosophy, John
Buckmaster (submitted,
under examination ('Cinematic
Memories: Cinema as a Metaphor of Memory'),
Russell Downham (autobiographical
memory & truth), & Anne Monchamp
(anthropology, memory,
and place in Aboriginal Australia),
and for 2 PhD
students in Cognitive Science, Glenn Carruthers and
Stef Savanah, both working on self-consciousness. I am associate
supervisor for 1 PhD student in
Anthropology, Paul Mason (dance & movement in
Indonesia & Brazil), 2 PhD students in Philosophy, Wilson Cooper
(mental causation),
Mel Rosen
(dreaming), 2 PhD students in Cognitive Science, Celia Harris
(collaborative remembering), Charlie Stone (socially-shared
retrieval-induced forgetting), and 1 PhD
student in
Psychology
(Andrew Geeves, memory and movement in music). In the past I have been
primary supervisor for 3 completed PhDs in Philosophy, Carl
Windhorst
('Believing the Past: The Psychological Mechanisms Responsible for the Construction of
Autobiographical
Memories), Meta Regis ('Mood-Enhancing
Fictions: a model of daydreaming and fantasy
immersion'),
& Andres Vaccari ('Machine
Metaphysics: Descartes, the mechanization of
life, and the dawn of the posthuman'), and for 3 completed
MAs in Philosophy, Peter Farleigh ('The Ideal of
Mechanism: its strengths
and
limitations'), David Jess ('What happens
when
language-games come into conflict?'), Monte
Pemberton ('Collective
Memory'), plus Kevin Sinclair (under examination - 'Perception
&
Action').
Ghost
in the Machine, a show about minds,
bodies, machines, and
memory, was on Eastside Radio
89.7FM in Sydney, until our last show on Thursday 27 January 2005.
Instead listen to All in the
Mind
and The Philosopher's
Zone on ABC
Radio National. Or try this podcast: Tony Lynch
on 10 Reasons Not
To Do Philosophy
And here is the mighty Macquarie
University
Cricket Club, premiers again in the Sydney Masters comp 2007-08 as
we continue a run of 22 consecutive wins ... The season ended
more abruptly in the Saturday grade competition ...
needing to win our 3rd-grade semi, fielding
for 155 overs wasn't part of the plan. We needed 13 runs/ over to
match it ... .
CONTACT DETAILS
John Sutton
MACCS (Macquarie
Centre for
Cognitive Science), (room C5C 423)
Macquarie University
NSW 2109
Tel. (61) 2 9850
4132
Australia
Or just email me.
Site
Index
Last updated 6 September 2008.