Deakin University homepage
Photo of Associate Professor Patrick Stokes

Associate Professor

Patrick Stokes

Associate Professor of Philosophy

Faculty of Arts and Education/School of Humanities and Social Sciences/Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation

Orcid identifier0000-0001-9574-6064
  • Associate Professor of Philosophy
    Faculty of Arts and Education/School of Humanities and Social Sciences/Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation
  • +61 3 924 43941 (Work)
  • Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125

BIO

I joined Deakin in 2012, having previously held research fellowships at the University of Hertfordshire, the University of Copenhagen and St Olaf College.

My research draws on both the analytic and continental traditions and explores issues of personal identity, the philosophy of death and dying, narrative selfhood, and moral psychology. I have particular interests in the work of Søren Kierkegaard, the nature of death and survival in the digital era, the perspectival and temporal character of selfhood, the moral philosophy of K.E. Løgstrup, and the epistemology and ethics of conspiracy theory.

In 2024-26 I am Chief Investigator (along with Adam Buben, University of Leiden) for the Discovery Project "Digital Death and Immortality," funded by the Australian Research Council. This project aims to explore the philosophical and ethical issues created by AI-driven 'reanimation' of the digital materials left behind by people who have died, and create guidelines and policy proposals for the ethical reuse of 'digital remains.'

I am the author of Digital Souls: A Philosophy of Online Death (Bloomsbury, 2021), The Naked Self: Kierkegaard and Personal Identity (Oxford, 2015), and Kierkegaard's Mirrors: Interest, Self, and Moral Vision (Palgrave, 2010), as well as co-editor with Adam Buben and Eleanor Helms of The Kierkegaardian Mind (Routledge, 2019), with John Lippitt of Narrative, Identity, and the Kierkegaardian Self (Edinburgh, 2015), and with
Adam Buben of Kierkegaard and Death (Indiana University Press, 2011). My work appears in a range of edited collections and journals such as European Journal of Philosophy, Inquiry, Continental Philosophy Review, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Journal of Consciousness Studies, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences and Philosophy and Technology.

I'm a regular media contributor on philosophical matters, with work appearing in outlets including New Philosopher magazine, The Conversation, Meanjin, and ABC Religion and Ethics. I've also produced radio documentary programs for ABC Radio National's The Philosopher's Zone and The History Listen programs. I was awarded the Australasian Association of Philosophy Media Prize in 2014.

Outside philosophy, when I'm not doing dad stuff or looking after our surprising number of pets, I'm currently writing a book exploring local history in the district NW of Daylesford in the early 20th century.

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY CURRENT APPOINTMENT

  • Associate Professor of Philosophy
    Deakin University, School of Humanities and Social Sciences

DEGREES

  • Doctor of Philosophy
    University of Melbourne
  • Bachelor of Arts (Philosophy)
    University of Melbourne

POSTGRADUATE TRAINING

  • Postgraduate Certificate of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
    University of Hertfordshire, United Kingdom2011 - 2011

LANGUAGES

  • Danish
    Can read and write

FIELDS OF RESEARCH (2020)

  • Philosophy
  • Applied ethics

AVAILABILITY FOR SUPERVISION

  • Masters by Research and PhD supervision

AREA/FACULTY

  • Faculty of Arts and Education

DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL/INSTITUTE

  • School of Humanities and Social Sciences

STRATEGIC RESEARCH AND INNOVATION CENTRE

  • Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation