Darby Vickers, Ph.D.

Philosophy Research

Peer-Reviewed Publications

  • N. Smith & D. Vickers. “Living Well with AI: Virtue, Education, and Artificial Intelligence,” Theory & Research in Education.
  • B.W. Sarnecka, P.N. Silva , J. Coon, D.C. Vickers, R.B. Goldstein, J.N. Rouder. “Doctoral Writing Workshops: A preregistered, randomized controlled trial,” Innovative Higher Education. January, 2022.
  • N. Smith & D. Vickers. “Statistically Responsible Artificial Intelligences,” Ethics and Information Technology. April 9, 2021. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10676-021-09591-1#Ack1

Other Publications

Dissertation

Title: Is Virtue an Expertise?: The Epistemology of Virtue in Plato’s Meno & Republic

  • Candidacy Chapter (Candidacy Exam passed June 2018): “Episteme in Plato’s Meno“
  • Kavka Award (received April 2018): award for meritorious research done by a graduate student at UCI, awardees are nominated by a faculty member (award received for the research presented in my prospectus)
  • Prospectus Exam (passed February 2018)

Recorded Talks & Panels

Archaeology and the Epistemology of Conspiracy Theories (Series of Events)

  • Academic Conference: Archaeology and the Epistemology of Conspiracy Theories, UCI (February 8-9, 2020)
  • Conference Organizer
  • Faculty Mentor: Professor Sven Bernecker
  • Conference Co-Organizers: Taylor Dunn, Gianluca Ciullo
  • “Archaeology and Conspiracy Theories”, Workshop, Archaeological Institute of America Annual Meeting (January 6, 2019)
    • Workshop Abstract: Pseudoarcheology and alternative history pose a unique threat to archeologists and historians. Conspiracy theories—like the story that the Smithsonian has a hidden collection of bones that would rewrite human evolutionary history—have gained remarkable social media momentum. Some archaeologists study this phenomenon, researching what stories gain traction and how those narratives misinterpret the evidence. However, pseudoarchaeology proves difficult to debunk; often, the most virulent pseudoarchaeological narratives are those which feed into racist or nationalist sentiments and propagate deep-seated suspicion of academics. Work in cognitive science and epistemology on the phenomenon of conspiracy theories can aid in solving some of these problems. These fields study how and why people form beliefs and, as a result, they can offer strategies to counter the appeal of misinformation. This conference will bring together scholars from epistemology, cognitive science, history, and archaeology to raise informational literacy, discuss strategies for public outreach. This conference will provide theoretical depth to the conspiracy theory phenomenon and a needed opportunity for an interdisciplinary response to the dire matter of misinformation in the digital age. It will include traditional presentations, interdisciplinary round-table sessions, and will produce interactive media coverage and lesson plans to raise information literacy.
  • Debunking 101: How to Spot Fake (Archaeology) News and What to Do About It

Intellectual Pleasure and What It Means to be Human

  • “Intellectual Pleasure,” AGS Graduate Research Symposium: graduate students deliver 7-minute TED-style presentations geared toward a non-academic audience about their research
    • Abstract: The humanities have been under fire in recent years and those in the humanities have been challenged to justify their existence and continued funding. Many, including myself, would defend the ability of humanities education to promote critical thinking. However, this is not the only way to marshal support for humanities. Another way is to argue that the humanities investigate what it means to be human. In that form, the idea is rather abstract. However, Plato argues that we should study the arts, humanities, and most particularly philosophy because they generate intellectual pleasure. He claims that intellectual pleasure– the pleasure that results from learning and knowing– is what makes us quintessentially human. For Plato, intellectual pleasure distinguishes humans from animals, that do not have the capacity for intellectual pleasures, and from the gods, who experience no pleasure at all but exist only in the realm of the intelligible. While this may sound slightly ethereal, Plato’s theories forcefully argue that intellectual pleasure not only makes us distinctly human, but drives us to discover new knowledge and reach our fullest potential.
    • Award: People’s Choice Award, Humanities, Social Sciences, and Arts Session (received April 2018)

Classics Research

MA Thesis: Inventing Meta-Epic: Self-Consciousness in Odyssey 8-12 (TriCampus Program/UCI, 2014)

Abstract: Self-consciousness in the Homeric poems has been a subject of much scholarly attention over the past three decades. Much of this scholarship has focused on scenes of storytelling that take place within the Iliad and the Odyssey. Much of that work analyzes the Odyssey as a literary text. Since the Odyssey is the extant textual byproduct of an oral tradition, I use Jan Vansina’s model of speech types in oral societies to analyze the different types of oral traditions that appear within the text. I focus on Odyssey 8-12, which take place during a day of athletic contests and feasting on the island of Skheria. Storytelling is the central to these books. In Odyssey 8, Demodokos, a blind bard, sings three songs. Books 9-12 are Odysseus’s first person recitation of his own adventures. Interspersed with bardic songs and personal narrative, there are also moments where characters give anecdotes about the past, a type of speech I term historical gossip. Each of these types of speech has two distinct audiences, an internal audience and an external audience. In conjunction with the analysis of audiences and Vansina’s model of speech types, I utilize Jonas Grethlein’s model of temporal divisions that appear in representations of the past in the speech of Homeric characters. Employing this combined methodology, I argue that there is sufficient evidence in Odyssey 8-12 to show that the oral society that produced it was conscious of the process though which these oral traditions were created.

Papers Presented (refereed graduate & professional conferences):

Public Outreach:

Undergraduate Thesis: Plato’s Critique of Tragedy (Reed College, 2010)

Papers Presented (undergraduate conferences):