Mark Mercer

Chair of Philosophy
Faculty of Arts
Philosophy

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Faculty Member Information

Office Location: 524
Office Building: McNally North
Telephone: (902)420-5825
E-Mail: mark.mercer@smu.ca

Interests

Philosophy of mind, epistemology, ethics and value theory. Logic and reasoning, history of modern philosophy, Ancient Greek philosophy.

Education

Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Toronto, 1991
M.A., Philosophy, Carleton University, 1985
B.A., Film Studies (Hons), Carleton University, 1982

Membership

1989 - Present, American Philosophical Association
1989 - Present, Canadian Philosophical Association

Honours

Promotion to Professor Saint Mary's University - 2013
Promotion to Associate Professor Saint Mary's University - 2004
Granted tenure Saint Mary's University - 2003
Postdoctoral Fellowship Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada - 1991
George Paxton Young Memorial Prize Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto - 1991
Martha Lile Love Teaching Award Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto - 1990
George Paxton Young Memorial Prize Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto - 1990
Graduate Scholarship OSAP - 1989
Graduate Scholarship (Declined) OSAP - 1988
Doctoral Scholarship Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada - 1988
Graduate Scholarship (Declined) OSAP - 1987
Doctoral Fellowship Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada - 1987
George Paxton Young Memorial Prize Department of Philosophy, University of Toronto - 1986
Graduate Scholarship OSAP - 1986
Open Doctoral Fellowship University of Toronto - 1985
Open Masters Scholarship Carleton University - 1983

Teaching: Course / Program Development

1998/03 - Present, Courses Taught at the Department of Philosophy, Saint Mary’s University
1985/03 - 1999/01, Courses Taught at other Universities

Scholarly Contributions

Book

Mercer Mark. "Why Study Philosophy? Philosophy for the Curious: Why Study Philosophy" (Winter - 2015)

Journal Articles

Mercer Mark. "In Defence of Wishful Believing", International Journal of Applied Philosophy 24:2 (Fall - 2010), 211-224
Mercer Mark. "Folk Psychology's Epistemic Credentials", Facta Philosophica 9:1/2 (Spring - 2007), 37-53
Mercer Mark. "Metaphor and Sentence Meaning", Facta Philosophica 8:1/2 (Spring - 2006), 3-22
Mercer Mark. "In Defence of Weak Psychological Egoism", Erkenntnis 55:2 (Spring - 2001), 217-237
Mercer Mark. "Grounds of Liberal Tolerance", Journal of Value Inquiry 33:3 (Fall - 1999), 19-334
Mercer Mark. "Psychological Egoism and Its Critics", Southern Journal of Philosophy XXXVI:4 (Winter - 1998), 557-576
Mercer Mark. "On a Pragmatic Argument Against Pragmatism in Ethics", American Philosophical Quarterly 30:2 (Spring - 1993), 163-173
Mercer Mark, Talmage Catherine. "Meaning Holism and Interpretability", Philosophical Quarterly 41:164 (Summer - 1991), 301-315

Presentation

Mercer Mark. "How to Respond—and How Not to Respond—to Bad Behaviour at a University", Panel discussion on the Dalhousie dentistry Facebook postings, meeting of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (Spring - 2015)
Mercer Mark. "Commentary on two student presentations (Cate Burton and Francesca Ekwuyasi)", Student Conference on Empowerment, Institute for the Study of Culture (Winter - 2015)
Mercer Mark. "Nine Cognitive Principles and Their Implications for Teaching Philosophy", Teaching Philosophy group (Fall - 2015)
Mercer Mark. "Nine Cognitive Principles and Their Implications for Teaching Philosophy", Centre for Academic and Instructional Development (Winter - 2015)
Mercer Mark. "Two Conceptions of Academic Freedom" (Fall - 2014)
Mercer Mark. "Jeremy Waldron and C. Edwin Baker on autonomy, dignity, and hate speech", Political Theory Colloquium (Fall - 2014)
Mercer Mark. "Maintain your moral purpose: Academics in a time of advocacy", Academics and Society panel discussion, Impact Ethics (Spring - 2013)
Mercer Mark. "Update of Canadian cases of free speech and academic freedom", Annual General Meeting of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (Spring - 2013)
Mercer Mark. "Celebrating Christmas without religion", “Is There Room at the Inn? Religious Celebration in Secular Settings,” a panel discussion, The Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs (Fall - 2012)
Mercer Mark. "Serge Gainsbourg and the Art of Scandal", Presentation prior to a screening of Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life, Saint Mary’s University Philosophy Society (Fall - 2012)
Mercer Mark. "Panel discussion with Paul Gooch (President, Victoria University in the University of Toronto) on the recent Statement on Academic Freedom from the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada", Meeting of the Society for Academic Freedom and Scholarship (Spring - 2012)
Mercer Mark. "An Introduction to Hume’s Argument that Inductive Reasoning is Not Justificatory Reasoning", Saint Mary’s University Philosophy Society (Winter - 2012)
Mercer Mark. "The Ignobility of Worship", Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association (Fall - 2011)
Mercer Mark. "The Ignobility of Worship", Dalhousie Philosophy Colloquium (Fall - 2011)
Mercer Mark. "Critical Rationalism and the Ethics of Belief", Public Lecture, Centre for Inquiry (Summer - 2011)
Mercer Mark. "Happiness in Hellenistic Philosophy, Discussion with Martin Capstick", Saint Mary’s Philosophy Society (Spring - 2011)
Mercer Mark. "Is abortion moral? Should it be legal? Debate with Stephanie Gray" (Winter - 2011)
Mercer Mark. "Academic Freedom and Its Discontents", Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association (Fall - 2010)
Mercer Mark. "Stanley Fish and Ronald Dworkin on Academic Freedom", Dalhousie Philosophy Colloquium (Spring - 2010)
Mercer Mark. "How Reasons Explain Actions", Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association (Fall - 2009)
Mercer Mark. "Anxiety According to Epicurus and Epictetus", Philosophy Colloquium (Spring - 2009)
Mercer Mark. "Remarks on Human Rights Commissions and Freedom of Expression, Panel Discussion “Have Human Rights Commissions or the Media Gone Too Far?”", Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs (Fall - 2008)
Mercer Mark. "Philosophy Outside the Classroom", Teaching Philosophy group, Department of Philosophy (Spring - 2008)
Mercer Mark. "Comment on Kathleen Skerritt, panel discussion on Trust in Freedom of Religious Expression" (Fall - 2007)
Mercer Mark. "Freedom of Expression and Emotional Harm", Atlantic Region Philosophers’ Association (Fall - 2007)
Mercer Mark. "Letting Racists Speak: What’s the Worry?", Panel Discussion, Saint Mary’s University Philosophy Society (Winter - 2007)
Mercer Mark. "The Folly and Wisdom of Ethical Commitment", Atlantic Regional Philosophical Association (Fall - 2004)
Mercer Mark. "On the Love of Justice: A Response to Glaucon", Canadian Association of Reductionist Philosophers (Fall - 2004)
Mercer Mark. "Wishfully Believing", Dalhousie Philosophy Colloquium (Fall - 2003)
Mercer Mark. "Varieties of Epicureanism", Dalhousie Philosophy Colloquium (Summer - 2002)
Mercer Mark. "To Love Justice For Its Own Sake", Philosophy Colloquium (Spring - 2001)
Mercer Mark. "Suffering, Sorrow, and the Gift of Free Will", Philosophy Colloquium (Winter - 2001)
Mercer Mark. "The Imperative of Respect", Atlantic Regional Philosophical Association Meetings (Fall - 2000)
Mercer Mark. "In Defence of Weak Psychological Egoism", Dalhousie Philosophy Colloquium (Fall - 1999)

Conference Proceedings

Mercer Mark. "To Love Justice For Its Own Sake", Philosophy Colloquium (2001 - 2001)

Other Publications

Mercer Mark. "Review of Scott F. Aikin & Robert B. Talisse, Reasonable Atheism: A Moral Case for Respectful Disbelief, Open Letters Monthly: An Arts and Literature Review"
Open Letters Monthly (Summer - 2011)
Mercer Mark. "The Significance of Christmas for Liberal Multicuturalism"
Christmas: Better than a Lump of Coal (the Philosophy for Everyone series) ED. Scott C. Lowe (Spring - 2010)

Service: Institutional Committees

Selection Committee for a tenure-track appointment in the Department of Philosophy, 2009/01 - 2009/03 (Member)
Selection Committee for a sessional appointment in the Department of Philosophy, 2007/02 - 2007/03 (Member)
Department of Philosophy Curriculum Committee, 2006/01 - 2011/01 (Member)

Service: Professional or Disciplinary

Reviewer (Journals), Various 1994/03 - Present