Dr. Thagard is a professor of Philosophy with a cross appointment to Psychology and Computer Science at the University of Waterloo where he's also the Director of the Cognitive Science Program and the University Research Chair. His interests center on emotions and consciousness, moral psychology, explanatory reasoning and decision making.
His recent book The Brain and the Meaning of Life examines some traditional questions of philosophy through the lens of psychology and neuroscience. In it he argues "that evidence requires the abandonment of many traditional ideas about the soul, free will, and immortality, and shows how brain science matters for fundamental issues about reality, morality, and the meaning of life."