Contact

Simon Cullen. 161 Baker Hall, Department of Philosophy. Carnegie Mellon University. 5000 Forbes Avenue. Pittsburgh, PA. 15213-3890. 

my last name at cmu dot edu

Appointments

Dietrich College AI and Education Fellow. 2023–present

Assistant Teaching Professor. Department of Philosophy, Carnegie Mellon University. 2018–present

Associated faculty: 

Postdoctoral Research Associate. Princeton Neuroscience Institute. 2017-18

Postdoctoral Research Fellow. Department of Philosophy, Princeton University. 2015-17

Degrees

Doctor of Philosophy (Princeton University; 2015).

Bachelor of Arts with dual First-Class Honors in Philosophy and in History and Philosophy of Science; majors in Logic, Philosophy, and Philosophy of Science (The University of Melbourne; 2007).

Research and teaching

For an overview of some of my current research, see Projects. I share tools for helping students improve at analytical reading and reasoning, and materials for instructors interested in incorporating argument visualization into their classes, on the Teaching page of this site and on Philosophy Mapped.

Areas of Specialization

Psychology of reasoning. Philosophy of psychology. Ethics, especially moral psychology and metaethics, Improving reasoning and communication

Areas of Competence

Applied Ethics. Philosophy of Language. Philosophy of Mind. General philosophy of science. Metaphysics & epistemology. Logic, especially philosophical logic.

Published

Choosing to Learn: The Importance of Autonomy in Higher Education. Cullen, S. & Oppenheimer, D. (2024). Science Advances. (Covered by Times Higher Education.)

Current Controversies in Philosophy of Cognitive Science. Lerner, A., Cullen, S., & Leslie, S (eds). (2020). Routledge.

When do circumstances excuse? Moral prejudices and beliefs about the true self drive preferences for agency-minimizing explanations. S. Cullen. (2018). Cognition. (Covered by Denise Valenti.)

Improving analytical reasoning and argument understanding: a quasi-experimental field study of argument visualization. Cullen, S., Fan, J., van der Brugge, E., & Elga, A. (2018). npj Science of Learning.

The true self and the situation. The International Cognition and Culture Institute.

Survey-driven romanticism. Review of Philosophy and Psychology.

In progress

Cullen, S., Oppenheimer, D. Campaign in Poetry, Govern in Prose, Persuade in Pictures: Visual argument presentation reduces partisan bias but only when arguments appeal to shared moral values.

Cullen, S. Automated discussion markets improve group problem solving and decision making. 

Cullen, S., Chapkovski, P., Byrd, N., & Thomason, T. Measuring reasoning and eliciting concepts using multiplayer discussion-based games.

Cullen, S., Byrd, N., & Dasgupta, S. Do nations have essences? Attribution and responsibility for national actions.

Unpublished

Cullen, S., & Sharma, V. Short report on an empirical study of argument presentation and political polarization.

Some invited presentations 

How to Teach Dangerous Ideas in Dangerous Times: Empirical Results and Hands-on Lessons from Carnegie Mellon. HxA 2024.

How to curb self-censorship, increase inclusivity, promote resilience, and have productive discussions in public policy classrooms. McCourt School of Public Policy, Georgetown University. 2023.

Is there a conflict between students' freedom of expression and creating inclusive classrooms? Lessons from 'Dangerous Ideas in Science and Society'. CMU Grand Challenge Seminar Facutly Lunch. 2023.

Structured reasoning techniques to improve intelligence products and interagency communication. (With Nick DiBella.) 2023.
 - NSA Deputy Director of Research. CMU.
 - IARPA Director of the Office of Analysis. CMU.
 - CIA, Director of Artificial Intelligence. CMU.
 - Senate Intelligence Committee Staff. US Senate.

Visual strategies to improve group reasoning, policymaking, and understanding across the aisle. (With DiBella.) Bipartisan Policy Center. 2023.

Thinking Alone and Together: Crowdsourcing discussions to investigate reasoning and persuasion. The Reasoning Lab @ U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. 2022.

Visualization and the language of value: Visual argument presentation and appeal to shared values improves argument evaluation among partisans. Center for Informed Democracy & Social-cybersecurity. 2022. 

Measuring the development of students' reasoning abilities: Causal inference from non-experimental data. Harvard/ThinkerAnalytix teaching workshop. 2020.

Are we hearing the best ideas at the table? TEDxPrincetonU. 2018.

Honors and awards

Heterodox Academy Open Inquiry Award for Teaching Excellence (2024)

Dietrich College Dean's Innovation Scholar (2024)

Dietrich College Seed Grand (with Danny Oppenheimer; 2023)

Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Advisor (2022-24)

Falk Grant for Research in the Humanities (2022)

Intelligence Community Postdoctoral Research Advisor (2020-22)

Falk Grant for Research in the Humanities (2019)

Princeton University Council on Science and Technology Research Grant (with Judth Fan)

Program in Cognitive Science Grant (with Judith Fan)

Center for Human Values

Graduate School Award for Excellence in Teaching

250th Anniversary Fund for Innovation in Undergraduate Education (with Adam Elga)

Cotsen-Graduate Fellow in Philosophy

Dwight Final Examination Prize for “The highest score in the final assessment of the degree of Bachelor of Arts degree with Honors”

Dwight Prize in History and Philosophy of Science for “The highest final score in History and Philosophy of Science Honors Degree"

Teaching

As primary instructor

Carnegie Mellon University: 

Princeton University: 

Postdoctoral advising

Graduate and undergraduate advising

Research training

Service