PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT, THE FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY, P.O. BOX 17771 AL AIN, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
(E-mail: profpercival[THE AT SIGN]yahoo.com)
Dr. Ray Scott Percival
THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES UNIVERSITY, P.O. BOX 17771 AL AIN, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
(E-mail: profpercival[THE AT SIGN]yahoo.com)
Dr. Ray Scott Percival
University Education
Oct.
88 to Oct. 91 PhD
in Philosophy. Field: Philosophy of Argument. Faculty: Economics.
The London School of Economics and Political Science. Awarded
19th February 1992.
Thesis:
Openness to Argument: A Philosophical Examination
of Marxism and Freudianism.
Supervisor:
Professor Kenneth Minogue.
Examiners:
Roger
Trigg:
Senior
Research Fellow and Academic Director of the Centre for the Study
of
Religion in Public Life, Kellogg College, Oxford.
David-Hillel
Ruben:
Director,
N.Y.U. in London. Professor of Philosophy, Birkbeck College, University
of
London.
1979
to 1982 Master of Arts
in Philosophy. The University of Warwick.
Dessertation:
Proof Theoretical Definitions of the Logical Connectives.
Supervisor: David W.
Miller. Sir Karl Popper’s Research Assistant. Author of Critical Rationalism: A
Restatement and Defence.
1975 to 1978 B.Sc.
(Hons) Psychology. University of Bolton.
Dissertation:
"Perceptual
Defence: A Test of the Freudian Theory of Repression"
AOS:
Philosophy of Science, Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Evolution,
Epistemology.
AOC:
Logic, Philosophy of Language, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion.
Honours and Awards
2009---
Award for Educational video Podcasting and development of the IPod
project. U.A.E.U.
Tablet
Computer.
1999---Winner
of the Encyclopaedia Britannica “Internet Guide Award” for
Sir
The Karl Popper
Web. “Awarded for quality of presentation,
accuracy
and
content.”
The
Open Society Institute. (New York.) –Sponsorship of The Karl Popper Web
internet site and Annual Conference at L.S.E. (Granted to “uniquely gifted
individual.”)
(Plus in-kind matching funding from Dublin City
University.)
Total
value = £40,000.00
Oct.95 to Oct. 96
The Open
Society Institute. (New York.) –Sponsorship of The Karl Popper
Web
internet site and Annual Conference at L.S.E. (Granted to
“uniquely gifted
individual.”)
(Plus in-kind
matching funding from Dublin City University.)
Current Positions
Aug,
04 to Present Assistant Professor of Philosophy.
United Arab Emirates University. U.A.E.
Critical Thinking. Logic. Philosophy of Language.
Philosophy of Mind.
Academic Responsibilities:
2010---Present ¨ Local Organising Committee for Conference
on TIME at U.A.E.U.
(1) Wrote
Philosophy of Mind. (2008)
(2) Wrote
Thematic Application, Minor: Mind (2009)
(3) Collection and production of
common resources for
the
HSR Community (2009).
(4) Political
and Social Philosophy (co-writer)
(5) Major
curriculum development. (2008)
(6) 2 Peer-review committees.
(2008)
(7) Search Committees.(2007, 2008,
2011)
(8) Co-chair
of the Website Development Committee (2006).
(9) Member of the Research Grant Committee
(2005).
(10)
Course Development and Teaching:
a.
Philosophy of Language (wrote 2004, taught 2008 --2011)
b.
Philosophy of Science
c.
Logic (wrote 2008, taught to 2011)
d.
Mind: Minor (wrote 2008)
e.
Critical Thinking (Taught since 2004)
Previous Academic Positions
1995 to 1996 Lecturer
in Department of Philosophy, Lancaster
University.
Teaching Master
of Arts students Science and its Critics
and Science and the Domination of Nature.
Other Positions
Jan 2003 to Present
Designer of Verbal Reasoning Tests. Medical College Science Reasoning.
A.C.T. Inc., U.S.A.
Sept
01 to Jan 03 Assistant
Researcher on the economics of colonialism for Professor David Barker, Dep. of
Economics, University of Chicago.
1990 to Present Writer:
on Science and Philosophy. New Scientist, Nature, Times H.Ed.
1995 to Present Developer
of the Prize-winning Website, The Karl Popper Web (Britannica Internet Guide Award) and the organization of the Karl Popper
Forums.
Sponsors:
Sun Microsystems, George Soros & Dublin City University. Currently in
association with Barry McMullin, Director of The Rince Institute.
Grants and Fellowships
Jan 97 to Jan 98 The
Open Society Institute. (New York.) –Sponsorship of The Karl Popper Web
internet site and Annual Conference at L.S.E. (Granted to “uniquely gifted
individual.”)
(In-kind matching funding from Dublin City
University.)
Total
value = £40,000.00
Oct.95 to Oct. 96 The Open
Society Institute. (New York.) –Sponsorship of The Karl Popper Web
internet site and Annual Conference at L.S.E. (Granted to “uniquely gifted
individual.”)
(In-kind
matching funding from Dublin City University.)
Total
value = £40,000.00
1995 Central
European University. Expenses for philosophy workshop in Budapest.
28th March, 95 Institute
for Humane Studies. Hayek Fund for Scholars. Travel expenses for Lecture at The
New School for Social Research.
1988 to 1991 Economic
and Social Science Research Council.. Referees: David Miller (Warwick) and
Professor Elie Kedourie (L.S.E.)
May
91 to Oct. 91 The
London School of Economics..
1989
Institute
for Humane Studies. Grant toward organising the Annual Conference on the
Philosophy of Sir Karl Popper,
1988 to 1989 Institute
for Humane Studies. Charles R. Lambe Fellowship. $2000. Referees: Professor
Julian Simon (University of Maryland) and Professor James Sadowski (Fordham
University)
1988
Institute
for Humane Studies. Hayek Fund for Young Scholars. Travel and Expenses for
attending the World Congress on Philosophy in Brighton, England, August 21-27,
Publications
Books
1.
The
Myth of the Closed Mind: Understanding Why and How People are Rational.
Publisher: Open Court, Chicago.
(110,000 words, 352 pages.)
http://www.opencourtbooks.com/books_n/myth_of_the_closed.htm
3rd
January, 2012.
Editorial Reviews:
“At last, a twenty-first century philosopher willing to stand up and argue for the power of sheer human rationality. Because Ray Percival is so convinced, correctly, of the impact of a rational argument on the human intellect, he is unafraid to offer a no holds barred, comprehensive brief on the strength of rationality. Preferring Kant to cant, surveying history and reason from Socrates to today’s age of terrorism, Percival has written a tract that Milton, Jefferson, Mill, or Karl Popper would be proud of. The next time I get into an argument with a well-meaning person who wishes to censor a propagandistic, corporate, or individually hateful point of view, I will recommend a reading of Percival’s The Myth of the Closed Mind.”
—Paul Levinson, Professor of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University and author of New New Media
“Some of what Percival claims is outrageous but some of it is not. Even though he may not convince most of his readers, many of his arguments are both ingenious and entertaining—and often point to unresolved issues in the theory of rationality.”
—James Fetzer, Distinguished McKnight University Professor Emeritus
University of Minnesota Duluth
Articles in Peer-reviewed Journals (See below for peer-reviewed
chapters.)
1. Campbell’s
Blind Variation in the Evolution of an Ideology and Popper’s World 3
Philosophica.
(1997), (2), Vol. 60. pp. 113
– 154.
2. Dawkins
and Mind Viruses: Memes, Rationality and Evolution
Journal
of Social and Evolutionary Systems. (1994)
Vol. 17. No. 3.
pp. 243 – 286.
3. Is Jung's Theory of Archetypes Compatible with Neo-Darwinism and Sociobiology.
Journal
of Social and Evolutionary Systems. (1993)
Vol. 16. No. 4.
pp. 459 – 487.
4. The
Metaphysics of Scarcity: Popper's World 3 and the Theory of Finite Resources
The
Critical Rationalist. (1996) Number 2. Vol. 1. (32 pages, pdf format)
5. Science Evolving. (1995), 13th July, Issue:
371. pp. 666 – 667.
Review
of Evolutionary Naturalism, by Michael Ruse.
Nature.
6. Natural Selections.(1994), 20th Oct. Issue:
371. pp. 131 – 132
Review
of Realism Rescued. by Jerrold L. Aronson, Rom Harre and Eileen
C.
Way.
Nature.
Chapters in Books
1. The Necessity of Exosomatic Knowledge for
Civilization and a Revision to our Epistemology. In the Anthology: The
Nothing in the Contemporary Thought. To be published by Bès
Éditions. Editor: Norbert-Bertrand Barbe. (Original
publication date: Fall, 2010. Revised by publishers to February 2012.)
2. Does the New Classicism Need Evolutionary
Theory? Beyond the Avant Garde, Open Court. 21 pages. (pub: Jan, 2009.) (NOTE: I was told by the
publishers that this was to be published in 2009, but I am currently
researching this.)
3. A Survey of British Epistemology, (2006)
Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy.
Editors:
Anthony Grayling, Andrew Pyle, Naomi Goulder. Publisher: Thoemmes.
Key
entry: 5000 words.
4. Scientific Induction, (2006) Continuum
Encyclopedia of British Philosophy.
Editors:
Anthony Grayling, Andrew Pyle, Naomi Goulder. Publisher: Thoemmes.
2000 words.
5. Philosophy of Education, (2006) Continuum
Encyclopedia of British Philosophy.
Editors:
Anthony Grayling, Andrew Pyle, Naomi Goulder. Publisher: Thoemmes.
6. Entry on Sir Karl Popper in Thoemmes Dictionary of Twentieth-Century British Philosophers.
Editor: Stuart Brown.
Publisher: Thoemmes Publishers. (7 July, 2005.)
7. Persons
and Popper’s World 3: Do Humans Dream of Abstract Sheep?
In Szasz Under Fire:The Psychiatric Abolitionist
Faces his Critics. pp. 119 – 130. Editor:
Jeffrey Schaler, professor at American University, Washington, Department of
Justice and Law. (2004.) (Book favourably reviewed by The Journal of the American Medical Association and the British Medical Journal.)
8. Malthus and his Ghost
(philosophy and
economics of Malthusianism),
In
collection of essays: Taking Sides: Clashing Views on
Controversial Social Issues. Editors: Kurt Finsterbusch and George
Mkenna. Dushkin Publishing Inc. 1990.
Contributors
include Noam Chomsky and John Kenneth Galbraith. (Used for in-class debates.)
Other Peer-reviewed Publications
1. Publication
of The Karl Popper Web by The WiderNet Project, inclusion in the eGranary Digital Library. (March, 2010.)
The WiderNet Project, Cliff Missen,
M.A., Director.
201
Communications Center
The University of Iowa,
School of
Library
and Information Science
, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 USA. (Phone: +1-319-335-2200. Fax: +1-319-335-5374)
Editorial Publications
Editorial Board Member of The
Journal for Evolutionary Biology Research.
(From August 2009 to the
present.)
Founder and Editor-in-Chief
of the electronic journal The Critical Rationalist
(Peer-reviewed. ISSN: 1393-3809.)
Hosted by Dublin City
University.
[From 1995 to 1998.]
Founder, Publisher and
Moderator of the Critical Café (an online philosophy discussion forum.)
[From 1996 to the present.]
Other
Publications in Scholarly and Scientific Journals
[2003]
“Tug
of Love.”
6th Sept.
Review
of Kuhn versus
Popper: The Struggle for the Soul
Issue: 2411. of
Science, by Steven Fuller.
New
Scientist.
[2003]
Review
of Emerson’s Life in
Science, by Laura Dassow
Walls.
5th July
New
Scientist.
Issue: 2402
[2001]
“Blindness
in Pursuit of Science.”
6th
April, Review
of A Companion to The Philosophy of Science, edited
by
W. H. Newton Smith, Blackwell
Times
Higher Education Supplement
[2001]
“A
Brief, but Passionate Encounter.”
31st March. Review
of Wittgenstein’s Poker, by David Edmunds and John
Issue: 2284 Eidinow.
Page 48.
New
Scientist
[2000]
“Challenger
to Eistein’s Theory of Time.”
6th
Oct.
Review
of The New Bergson, editor: John Mullarkey and
Duration
and Simultaneity, by Henri Bergson.
Times
Higher Education Supplement
[2000]
Review
of Doubt and Certainty, by Tony Rothman and George
Issue 20 Sudarshan.
Science
Spectra
[1999]
Review
of Unweaving The Rainbow, by Richard Dawkins.
?
Science
Spectra
[1999]
Review
of A House Built on Sand, edited by Noretta
?
Koertge,
Oxford.
Science
Spectra
[1999]
“Archives
of the Abstract.”
8th
October. Review
of: British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Editor: G. A. J. Rogers.
The Times Higher Education Supplement.
[1999]
“Appeal
to the Court of Experience.”
28th
May. Popper:
Politics, Philosophy and Scientific Method, by Geoffrey Stokes.
The Times Higher Education Supplement.
[1998]
“Thoughts
about Russell’s Thoughts.”
9th
October. Review
of Bertrand Russel and the Origins of
Analytical Philosophy, by Ray Monk
and Anthony Palmer.
The Times Higher Education Supplement.
[1998]
“Breaking
the Grip of Materialism.”
6th
June.
Review
of Unsnarling the World-Knot,
by David Ray Griffin
Issue: 2137 New Scientist.
[1998]
“Nitpicking
Newton.”
28th Feb Review
of Pierre
Simon Laplace: A Life in Exact Science, by
Issue: 2123 Charles
Coulston Gillispie.
New Scientist
[1998]
“Mozart
and the Nightingale.”
21 Feb.
Review
of An Intelligent Person's Guide to Philosophy, by Roger Scruton.
Issue:
2122 New Scientist.
[1998]
I. Review
of Questioning
the Millennium, by Stephen J Gould,
24th Jan. Harmony
Books
II. Review
of Theory
of Language, by Hattiangadi,
New Scientist.
[1997]
“A
Sense of Wonder.”
18th Dec Review
of Confessions
of a Philosopher, by Bryan
Issue: 2089 Magee.Weidenfeld
& Nicolson.
.
New Scientist.
[1997]
“A
Man of Ideas.”
6th Dec. Review
of The
Sense of Reality: Studies in Ideas and Their
Issue: 2111. History,
by Isaiah Berlin
New Scientist.
[1997]
“Where
does Awareness Dawn?”
25th Oct. Review
of The Mystery of Consciousness,
by John Searle.
Issue: 2105 New Scientist.
p.48.
[1997]
“Dial
P for Philosophy.”
25th Jan. Review
of Utopia,
Dolphins and Computers, by Mary Midgley,
Issue: 2066 New
Scientist.
[1995]
“Carry
on Learning: Learning Cyberspace”
18th Nov. Essay
Review of Learning Cyberspace. by Paul Levinson.
Issue: 2004. New Scientist.
[1995]
“Worlds
3 Popper 0.”
19th May. Review
of Mind-Body
Problem. Collection of essays.
Eds.
Richard Warner and Tadeusz Szubka.
Times Higher Education Supplement.
[1994]
Review
of The
Myth of the Framework and Knowledge and
10th Dec the
Body-Mind Problem. Karl Popper. Routledge.
New Scientist.
[1994]
“Cold Turkey - kicking the habit of justification.”
20th Aug. Review
of Critical
Rationalism: A Restatement and Defence,
Issue: 1939 by
David Miller. Open Court.
New Scientist.
[1994]
“Is
Technology a Blessing or a Curse?”
5th March. Review
of Heidegger and The Ground of Being, by Michel Haar.
Issue: 1915. New Scientist.
Educational Videos
Videos to supplement lectures in Philosophy. The
videos were produced for the IPod Project at U.A.E.U. and for more general use
in my teaching.
Produced, directed and edited by myself. I conducted an
anonymous online survey of students using the videos to judge their usefulness.
(Published
for DVD, IPod, IPhone, IPad, other smart phones and web-based platforms –
Blackboard and YouTube.)
YouTube Channel: NaiveRealist
(74 subscribers, 18,349, views by 8th September,
2011.)
1.
Introduction to Philosophy. (7th March, 2009)
2.
The Concept of a Valid Argument. (24th September, 2009)
3.
Using Argument as a Tool of Criticism. (27th March, 2009)
4.
The Logical Connectives – Supplementary Comments and Two Common
Fallacies.
(2nd
May, 2009)
5.
Kant, Chomsky and the Problem of Knowledge. (11th September, 2009)
6.
The Collapse of the Analytic/Synthetic Distinction. (22nd October,
2009)
7.
Trial and Error Learning and Critical Thinking. (26th December,
2008)
8.
Richard Dawkins’ Theory of Memes. (25th April, 2010)
9.
The Importance of Philosophy for Civilization. (29th April, 2010)
(A
video of my students using explicit rules of valid argument in a debate on the
connection between philosophy and civilization.)
10.
Debate on Global Warming. (12th July, 2010.)
(A
recording of my students using explcit rules of valid argument in a discussion
of global warming.)
11.
The Myth of the Closed Mind: Understanding How and Why People are Rational. 19th
August 2011.
Membership of Professional Associations
2010---Present ¨ Local Organising Committee for Conference
on TIME at U.A.E.U.
2009---Present ¨ Editorial Board of The Journal of
Evolutionary Biology Research.
1992---Present ¨ The Alumni Organisation of The Institute
of Humane Studies, George Mason
University.
2007---2009 ¨ Interdisciplinary
Research Project in Cognitive Science. Title: Situation Models, Imagination
& Spirituality in Humans and Machines.
1995---1998 ¨ Founder and
Editor-in-Chief. The Critical Rationalist,
(peer-reviewed electronic
journal).
1995---Present ¨ Founder and
moderator, Critical Café,
(E-mail based forum).
1995---Present ¨ Founder of The Sir Karl Popper Web. (Cooperating
University: Dublin City University.)
1995---Present ¨ President of
Sir KARL POPPER FORUMS, a network
of face-to-face conferences and internet forums. Sponsor: Open Society
Institute, New York..
1994---2003 ¨ Editorial
Board of The Journal of Social and
Evolutionary Systems. (New
York.) (Formerly, the Journal of Social
and
Biological Structures).
1988---1998 ¨ Chairman and
Organiser of the Annual Conference on the
Philosophy
of Sir Karl Popper. Based at London School of Economics. Sponsors: George
Soros, Securicor, and Routledge.
1993---1995 ¨ Associate
Editor of The Popper Forum (Journal).
Guelph, Ontario.
Editor-in-Chief:
Professor Fred Eidlin.
Conference Contributions and Invited Talks.
16th
– 18th Oct, 2009. Edinburgh
University. Seventh International
Conference on the Book.
20th
Feb, 08. Emirates
University.
Most Knowledg is not and could not be
Mental.
Cognitive Science Society of the Middle East.
6th
Dec, 2007 Emirates
University.
Critical Thinking and Problem Solving.
Openning paper at the
FacultyWorkshop
on Enhancing Critical Thinking in the Classroom.
9th
Sept, 2007 Institute
of Philosophy, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic.
Mental Modules are Conjectures about
Conjectures: a Conjecture and Refutation
Model of Lanscape Aesthetic Preference.
28
March 2003
Hegeler Carus Foundation. Hegeler Mansion, La Salle, Illinois.
Colloquium:
After Modernisn and Postmodernism: New Directions in the Arts.
6th
- 14th June, 96 Central
European University, Budapest,
Participant
in Popper Workshop, Translation project.
1996
Bielefeld
University, Germany.
Campbell’s
Blind Variation in the Evolution of an Ideology and Popper’s World 3.
1995
London
School of Economics.
Special
Invitaion by Donald T. Campbell to Discussion group on
The Usefulness and Problems of Using
Analogies From Biological Evolution
In Understanding the Evolution of Scientific Theories.
28
March 95 The
New School for Social Research, New York.
"Richard Dawkins' Theory of Memes and Mind
Viruses:
A
Comparison of Meme and Gene
Replication"
Feb, 1995 Liverpool
John Moores University. A Popperian View
of Religion.
Dec,
1994 University
of Manchester. Popper's Theory of World
3.
July,
1994 University
of Manchester. Wishful and Fearful
Thinking.
7th March, 92 The
University of York. The Logic,
Psychology and Sociology of Openness
to
Argument.
5th
Feb, 91 Psychology
Department, University of Bolton.
A
Darwinian Criticism of Jung's Theory of Archetypes.
30th April, 88 Annual
Conference on the Philosophy of Sir Karl Popper.
Ideology and Criticism.
14th April, 88 Political
Studies Association, London. Ideology
and Openness to
Argument
10th April, 88 Institute
of Economic Affairs, London. Popper's
Notion of The Immunising Stratagem in Science and Ideology
20th
Sept, 87 London
School of Economics. The Over-Population
Problem
12th
March, 86 Institute
of Economic Affairs, London. Science and
Ideology
References
v
David Miller, Alumnus of the Philosophy
Department,
The University of Warwick CV4 7AL
Telephone: +44 (0) 24 7652 4543
Fax: +44 (0) 24 7652 3019
E-mail: dwmiller57@yahoo.com
v Professor
Paul Levinson, Communication
& Media Studies Department,
Fordham
University,
Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Department of Communication and Media Studies
Faculty
Memorial Hall 431
New
York, NY 10458
U.S.A.
Telephone:
+1 718-817-4863
E-mail:
levinson.paul@gmail.com
v Professor Dennis Leavens, Ph.D.
Interim Dean
Faculty
of Humanities and Social Sciences
United
Arab Emirates University
dleavens@uaeu.ac.ae
Supplemental
References:
v
The late Professor Emeritus Donald T.
Campbell.
Past
President of the American Psychological Association.
Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA 18015.
U.S.A. (General Recommendation, available on request.)