new article in Journal of Moral Education (2026)
"The Pedagogical Hard Problem of Generative AI: Socratic Countermeasures"
David J. Blacker states that generative AI has created a ‘pedagogical hard problem,’ forcing educators to verify genuine student experiences over final products. Referencing Henri Bergson, he argues that traditional text-based tasks no longer pass a ‘reverse Turing test’ (RTT), which involves the proving of human authorship. Blacker addresses this situation by offering an illustration of an RTT-passing performative, embodied learning activity, a student-designed AI in the form of a Socrates chatbot that can catalyze gradable philosophical performances resistant to AI outsourcing. Inspired by Socratic dialogue, this approach emphasizes experiential elements such as aporia, elenchus, parrhesia, and eunoia, which are best learned firsthand. Despite concerns about scalability and writing skills, Blacker believes that this approach can help sustain humanistic education amid the growth of AI.
new article in PSYCHE (2025)
Psychedelics can be philosophical tools for demolishing assumptions
David J. Blacker is Professor of Philosophy of Education and Legal Studies at the University of Delaware (USA). He has also held positions at Illinois State University and Teachers College, Columbia University. He has published six books including, most recently, Deeper Learning with Psychedelics: Philosophical Pathways Through Altered States (SUNY, 2024), The Falling Rate of Learning and the Neoliberal Endgame (Zero, 2013), What’s Left of the World: Education, Identity, and the Post-Work Political Imagination (Zero, 2019) and Democratic Education Stretched Thin: How Complexity Challenges a Liberal Ideal (SUNY, 2007). Blacker is also General Editor of the SUNY book series Horizons in the Philosophy of Education.
He has written well over one hundred sole-authored academic publications and presentations, including contributions to edited volumes with Oxford University Press, University of California Press, Blackwell, Springer and others. A highly sought-after speaker, Blacker has been invited to provide keynote lectures at institutions worldwide, including: McGill University, University of Ottawa, University of Cambridge (UK), University of Edinburgh, University of Wales, University of London, University of Illinois, National Defense University (School of Joint Strategic Studies, Washington, DC), Arizona State University, Westminster University (UK), Columbia University, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (Berlin), the Museo d’Arte Contemporanea Roma (Rome), Kazi Nazrul University (West Bengal, India), the Philosophy of Education Societies of both Great Britain and the US, and both the British and American Educational Studies Associations. Deeper Learning with Psychedelics is a Finalist for Foreword INDIES Book of the Year (an annual award for university and independent scholarly press books).The Falling Rate of Learning was the subject of a special issue of Educational Theory, the leading US philosophy of education journal. He has been quoted in the New York Times and The Guardian (UK) and has been the main guest on dozens of podcasts, including multiple “best interview of the year” awards. Blacker has received both Outstanding Teacher and Distinguished Faculty awards from his students and colleagues.