Chris Lay
Visiting Assistant Professor
Chris earned his PhD from the University of Georgia in the fall of 2018, and his primary research interests are in philosophy of mind, personal identity and personhood, and the intersections of self and technology. His work often focuses on the ways in which popular culture treats these issues and what this reveals about the ways in which we think about them. In his dissertation, Chris investigated the possible role that moral features might play in determining the numerical identity, or persistence, of human persons. This theory is a modification of psychological accounts of personal identity proposed (and rejected) by Derek Parfit, and Chris has since developed—and continues to develop—this idea into other articles and research. Presently, he is hard at work on a project exploring how more traditional persistence theories may apply to accounts of extended mind—cases where the so-called ‘artificial’ become part of the mind and thinking processes. Chris has published in international journals and presented at the Eastern APA conference; additionally, he has contributed chapters to various pop culture and philosophy volumes. Before teaching at UTEP, he taught at both the University of Georgia and Augusta University and was also a high school social studies teacher for many years. Currently, he teaches courses in Ancient Philosophy, Ethics, and Introduction to Philosophy.