Alisha Patience
Philosophical Interests: Metaphysics (particularly substance and personal identity), Philosophy of mind, Philosophy of science, Epistemology, Ethics (particularly longtermism and animal rights), Psychedelics and altered states of consciousness.
I have a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology (2024) with a minor in Philosophy. After my undergraduate studies, I took time off to work most valuably, in the disability sector, caring for adults with a wide variety of cognitive and physical atypicalities. I also have a certificate in Foundations of Plant Medicine Facilitation, Integration and Ethics from the Charuna Institute and I am involved in vegan advocacy groups based in Calgary.
Presently, I am interested in how various theories of consciousness, from physicalist and materialist to idealist or panpsychist, challenge (western) assumptions and intuitions about self-hood, freewill, moral responsibility, and agency. More broadly, I am intrigued by how non-dualistic metaphysical frameworks inform epistemic and moral understanding and, as a follow-up question, whether answers to these questions lead toward particular moral obligations regarding ourselves and others. Especially interesting to me is our potential obligations toward groups that cannot advocate for themselves, such as future people, non-human animals, or the broader environment. I suppose that hidden within these ideas is the infamous "getting an ought from an is" problem which may also need to be explored...
Outside of Philosophy, I am passionate about health, fitness, nutrition, cooking and food experimentation, music, and games of all kinds (board games, card games, videogames, etc.).