My name is Kevin deLaplante. I live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada with my wife and son.
For sixteen years I worked as an academic philosopher teaching courses in philosophy of science, logic, critical thinking and ethics.
From 2008-2012 I served as Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Iowa State University. Here’s a semi-recent cv with full details on my academic background.
In 2015 I gave up the security of a tenured academic position and a steady paycheck to work full-time as an independent educator.
My mission:
With the rise of post-truth politics, “fake news” and rapidly evolving technologies of persuasion and manipulation, we’re facing a modern crisis of knowledge, trust and communication.
This crisis threatens our individual well-being and our capacity to live and work together in harmony within diverse communities.
My goal is to create learning resources and training programs that make us better able to meet the challenges of living together in the 21st century, and to make these resources available to as wide an audience as possible.
More specifically, my mission is to take the best of what philosophers and scientists have learned about how to improve the quality of our reasoning and decision-making (the “light arts”), and combine that with practical knowledge of the methods of persuasion, influence and manipulation (the “dark arts”), to create tools and training programs that can teach us the skills necessary to
- protect ourselves from harmful exploitation and manipulation,
- become more effective communicators and advocates for the values we care about, and
- think more critically and independently for ourselves.
Through this training, I want to empower people to become the best version of themselves, and to promote a culture that honors reason, human dignity and fellowship within community.
This website is where I share my thoughts on these topics, and update you on the tools and training that I’m developing.
More info:
- My video tutorial site, the Critical Thinker Academy
- My podcast, Argument Ninja: Critical Thinking as a Martial Art
- My speaking page
Support:
I significant source of my financial support comes from patrons who pledge a monthly amount over at Patreon. One of the benefits of becoming a patron is you get access to the full set of video tutorial courses on my Critical Thinker Academy site.
Contact:
Click here to send me a note.
Email Updates:
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