Dr. Marcello Guarini

Dr. Guarini has a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Western Ontario. He was the former Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. His research is focused on nature of analogical reasoning and on issues at the intersection of epistemology and the philosophy of mind, including issues in cognitive and computational philosophy. He is the first recipient of the annual AILACT essay prize, and has been awarded grants by SSHRC and SHARCNet.

Dr. Guarini is a member of the Canadian Philosophical Association, the American Philosophical Association, the PSA, the IACAP, the AAAI, the CSS, and the Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation and Rhetoric.  

During 2002-2003, Dr. Guarini received a UWSA nomination for Teacher of the Year, and in 2005 he was selected by TVO as one of Ontario's top 30 lecturers.  Some of his past courses include: Introduction to Western Philosophy, Introduction to Ethics, Theory of Knowledge, Law, Punishment and Morality, Kant, Mind, Action, & Personal Identity, Mind Design and Android Epistemology, (Grad) Mind or Knowledge (2008) & (2010), (Grad) Philosophy of Mind, (Grad) Epistemology, (Grad) Special Topics: Philosophy and Techniques of Computational Neural Modeling.

Most recent publications and research projects:

Dr. Guarini’s dissertation was in the philosophy of computational neural modelling, and one of the major strands of his research has been in the philosophy of mind (understood as including philosophy of AI and cognitive science). Machine ethics is another area in which he has published. He also has done work on analogy. His recent work is focussed on the philosophy of AI.

(i) “Blame, Responsibility, and Agency: a Meditation on Possible Moral Statuses for AI Entities.”

(ii) “A Case Study of Contextual and Emotional Modulation of Source-case Selection in Analogical Arguments.” 2023. https://informallogic.ca/index.php/informal_logic/article/view/7802 (Scroll down for the PDF.)

(iii) “Reflections on the Scope of Totally Grounded Analogies.” Forthcoming in 2023 or 2024.

(iv) “Analogical Arguments: Classical Insights and Ongoing Inquiry.” Invited as part of the Routledge Handbook of Argumentation Theory. Expected in 2024.

(v) “ Blame, Responsibility, and Agency: A Meditation on Possible Moral Statuses for AI Entities.” (In preparation.)

General Policies

Research

2016. “Order Effects, Moral Cognition, and Intelligence,” in Vincent C. Müller (ed.), 2016. Fundamental Issues of Artificial Intelligence (Synthese Library), Berlin: Springer, pp. 527-540.
2012. “Conative Dimensions of Machine Ethics: A Defense of Duty,” IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, 3, no. 4, pp. 434-442.
2011. “Computational Neural Modeling and the Philosophy of Ethics,” in M. Anderson and S. Anderson, eds, Machine Ethics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 316 - 334. 
2010. “Particularism, Analogy, and Moral Cognition,” Minds and Machines, 20, no.3, pp. 385-422. 
2009.  Guarini, Marcello, Amy Butchart, Paul Simard Smith, and Andrei Moldovan. “Resources for Research on Analogy: A Multi-disciplinary Guide.” Informal Logic, 29 (2): 84-198. 
2004. “A Defense of Non-deductive Reconstructions of Analogical Arguments,” Informal Logic 24, no.2, pp. 153-168.
2001. “A Defense of Connectionism Against the ‘Syntactic’ Argument,” Synthese 128, no. 3, pp. 287-317.

Grading and Teaching

I believe students should be encouraged to expose themselves to different ways of thinking and problem solving. As a result, I design my courses so that they are not exceedingly difficult to pass for students who attend class regularly, do the required work, and possess university level reading and writing skills. My courses have a low failure rate. However, I believe students should be challenged and held to high standards, so A-range grades are not easy to come by, but they certainly are not impossible to earn. As a general rule, I don't curve or adjust grades either up or down. However, if I decide (after giving a test) that a question was insufficiently clear or that I inadequately taught the material required to answer a question, I may adjust grades upward, but this is rare. Many students who have little or no background in philosophy have done exceptionally well in my courses. If you are interested in trying something new, or you just want to know more about this philosophy stuff you've heard about, I think you will find my courses accessible and unintimidating. I encourage students to ask challenging questions, but in a way that does not stifle or discourage further conversation. Both male and female students from a wide variety of social, economic, ethnic, and religious backgrounds have found my classes an intellectually and socially hospitable place to learn. I attempt to make my classes as conversational as possible. When I do lecture, I avoid unnecessary technical jargon. When I do use technical jargon, I make every effort to clarify the meanings of the terms I use. I don't believe in saying things because they sound "deep" or "cool." While I like to think that my courses explore deep and cool issues, I encourage students to explore these issues in a way that is free of linguistic gobligook.

Plagiarism and Cheating

A student caught plagiarizing or cheating (or aiding and abetting such acts) will receive a failing grade for that assignment. A student caught committing a second offense will fail the entire course. Should the University of Windsor decide to expel a student for repeat offenses, I intend to cooperate fully. Consult Senate Bylaw 31 for details. Please consult the instructor if you have any questions regarding this policy.