Faculty Name:Jon K. Burmeister, PhD

Areas of Interest

• Philosophy of Mind
• Philosophy of Computing
• Digital Ethics, with a focus on AI and social media
• German Idealism
• History of Western philosophy

Dr. Burmeister’s research focuses on the nature of mind (including both ordinary and non-ordinary states), computational technologies, and how those two topics illuminate and shape each other, for better and for worse.  As a student of the history of philosophy (e.g., Aristotle, Rousseau, Nietzsche, Hegel), he brings a historical perspective to his interests, drawing on insights from the past to examine the perspectives and prejudices of the present.

Courses Taught

• AI and Data Ethics
• Philosophy of Mind
• The Art of Living: Stoicism and Buddhism
• Philosophy of Human Nature
• Existentialism
• Introduction to Ethics
• Philosophy of Technology
• Work and Leisure: From Aristotle to AI

Publications

Book Chapters

• “A.I. as Midwife/d: Some First Principles for Educating Humans and Machines,” in Humanities in the Age of A.I., edited by Patryk Babiracki and Michael Weatherburn, Texas A&M University Press, forthcoming 2027.
• “Education for a Post-Work Society: A.I., the Liberal Arts and the Future of Leisure,”
  in Augmenting Education in the Global Age: Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Learning and Work, edited by Daniel Araya and Peter Marber, Routledge Press, 2023.

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• “Cybersecurity and Simondon’s Concretization Theory: Making Software More Like a Living Organism,” coauthored with Ziyuan Meng, in Matter: Journal of New Materialist Research, Vol. 3 No. 1, 2022: Prospects for a New Materialist Informatics, pg. 1-28. https://doi.org/10.1344/jnmr.v3i1.38956
• “Kant, Cybernetics, and Cybersecurity: Integration and Secure Computation,” coauthored with Ziyuan Meng, in Journal on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics, Vol.19 No. 4, 2021: “Cybernetics and Philosophy” Special Issue, pg. 53-78.
  http://www.iiisci.org/journal/sci/FullText.asp?var=&id=IP132LL21
• “Hollywood Love and Liberal Arts Love in Plato’s Symposium,” in Selected Proceedings of the 21^st Annual Conference of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, edited by Scott A. Ashmon and Kerri L. Tom, 2021, pg. 61-65.

Edited Book

• Co-editor with Mark Sentesy, On Language: Analytic, Continental, and Historical Contributions, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007. Includes essays by Geoffrey Bennington and Jaakko Hintikka.

Non-Peer-Reviewed Article

• “We Can Automate Work. Can We Automate Meaning?” in The Philosopher’s Magazine, Issue 81, Spring 2018.

Invited Article

• “Hegel’s Living Logic,” in Research in Phenomenology, Volume 43.2, 2013, pg. 243-264.

Articles, Published and Forthcoming

• We Can Automate Work.  Can We Automate Meaning?” in The Philosopher’s Magazine, Issue 81, 2018.
• “Hollywood Love and Liberal Arts Love in Plato’s Symposium,” in Selected Proceedings of the 21^st Annual Conference of the Association for Core Texts and Courses, forthcoming 2018.
• “Hegel’s Living Logic,” in Research in Phenomenology, Volume 43.2, 2013, pg. 243-264.

Conference Presentations

• Invited Speaker, “A.I. as Midwife: Personalized Education and Rousseau’s Hidden Tutor,” at the Walter Prescott Memorial Lectures, University of Texas at Arlington, April 16, 2026.
• “Generating Possibilities Now, and Reasons Later? A.I. in Academic Research.” Presented at “Research in the Era of Generative A.I.,” a summit at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, September 12, 2024.
• “New Agents in the World of Work: Artificial Intelligence and Human Autonomy.” Presented at “Social Ontology 2021,” the 13th Biennial Collective Intentionality Conference, sponsored by the International Social Ontology Society, August 20, 2021.
• Co-hosted “Cybernetics and Philosophy,” a Conversational Session at the conference of the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics, March 9, 2021.
• Invited Speaker, “The Future of Meaningful Work: What Will A.I.’s Impact Be?” Presented at the conference “Grappling with the Futures,” Harvard University/Boston University, April 29-30, 2018.
• “What is Left to Contingency: Hegel’s Philosophical Minimalism.” Presented at The Metaphysical Society of America’s 68th Annual Meeting, “The Metaphysics of Contingency: East and West,” Cambridge, MA, April 1, 2017.
• “Virtual Reality: Future Benefits, Future Risks.” Presented at the Boston College Philosophical Society, February 22, 2016.
• “Nietzsche and Amor Fati: The Will of Fate and the Will to Create.” Presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Society for Phenomenology and Existential Philosophy, Atlanta, GA, October 10, 2015.

Conferences Organized

• Organizer of the NEH-funded conference “The Liberal Arts and the Future of Work and Leisure,” Boston College, taking place April 5, 2018. https://workandleisureorg.wordpress.com/
• Organizer of the NEH-funded conference “The Future of Work in the Age of Automation,” Boston College, February 27, 2017.

Grants and Awards

• Principal Investigator, NEH “Enduring Questions” Grant, for the project “What is the Meaning of Work and Leisure?” at Boston College, 2016-2018. National Endowment for the Humanities, Washington, D.C. https://workandleisureorg.wordpress.com/
• DAAD Yearlong Research Grant, October 2008 through July 2009, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, in Freiburg, Germany.