I’m a former academic philosopher of science. Now I work as an independent educator and consultant, helping individuals and companies develop their capacity to think critically, communicate persuasively, and make smart decisions that promote their true goals and values.
- As a solo entrepreneur, I develop learning resources (video courses, podcasts, ebooks) and run a membership site dedicated to helping individuals develop their critical thinking, argumentation and persuasion skills. One can think of this work as located at the intersection of critical thinking education and personal development.
- As an educational consultant, I give talks and run workshops on the topics related to critical thinking education, teacher training and curriculum development.
- As a business consultant, I work with the amazing team at Lenker Consulting, where I bring my skills as a writer, researcher, analyst and philosopher to help businesses fulfill their aspirational goals and make a positive impact on the world.
038 – Tribal Literacy and Emotional Intelligence
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I share the audio from an interview I did with Brittney-Nichole Connor-Savarda for her for a new podcast, Living and Leading with Emotional Intelligence.
037 – 3 Honest Updates: On Failure, Living With a Stutter, and Accepting My Comfort Zone
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk openly about why this is the first new episode I’ve produced in 7 months, and the lessons I’m learning as a life-long stutterer.
036 – Understanding Complex Social Phenomena: More Theories of the Causes of Social Polarization
On this episode of the Argument Ninja podcast I talk about the difficulty of judging how much we really understand about the causes of complex social phenomena—even if we do lots of research and self-study. To help make the case I’m continuing my survey of different theories of the causes of the increase in social polarization that we’re currently experiencing. On this episode I look specifically at the work of two social scientists who have written extensively on this topic: Karen Stenner and Eric Kauffman.
Video Interview with Bryan Alexander and the Future Trends Forum
Here is a video interview I did with Bryan Alexander, host of the Future Trends Forum, which is a monthly video conversation about the future of higher education focusing on impacts of trends in digital technology.
035 – Updates and a Video Interview with the Street Epistemology Gang
On episode 035 of the Argument Ninja podcast I share updates on new course development over at kevindelaplante.com, and I share both the audio and the video of a one-hour interview I did with the hosts of the Epistemic podcast, which focuses on “street epistemology”.
034 – Understanding the Causes of Polarization (Part I): Depolarization Initiatives
On this episode of the Argument Ninja Podcast I’m starting a series of episodes that will explore different models of the causes of social and political polarization, and will introduce some general principles for thinking critically about complex social phenomena like polarization. In this episode (Part 1) I examine the models of polarization and social change that are implicit in the depolarization strategies of three different depolarizing initiatives: Better Angels, AllSides, and OpenMind.
I Write My Podcast (And Everything Else) in Scrivener
In this video I show my process for researching and writing the scripts for my Argument Ninja podcast (and pretty much everything else I write) in Scrivener. I also show how a structured text document is the foundation for all of the various digital products I create — ebooks, audio podcasts and video courses.
033 – Critical Thinking About Conspiracies
On this episode of the Argument Ninja Podcast I’m presenting edited versions of last three episodes of my first podcast show that I produced in 2010-11. These were the last episodes I produced of that podcast series, and I discuss why in the introduction. The last three episodes were on the subject of conspiracies and conspiracy theories.