•  203
    The Argument from Brain Damage Vindicated
    with Yonatan I. Fishman
    In Keith Augustine & Michael Martin (eds.), The Myth of an Afterlife: The Case against Life After Death, Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 105-133. 2015.
    It has long been known that brain damage has important negative effects on one’s mental life and even eliminates one’s ability to have certain conscious experiences. It thus stands to reason that when all of one’s brain activity ceases upon death, consciousness is no longer possible and so neither is an afterlife. It seems clear that human consciousness is dependent upon functioning brains. This essay reviews some of the overall neurological evidence from brain damage studies and concludes that …Read more
  •  62
    The 'of' of intentionality and the 'of' of acquaintance
    In Sofia Miguens, Gerhard Preyer & Clara Bravo Morando (eds.), Pre-Reflective Consciousness: Sartre and Contemporary Philosophy of Mind, Routledge. pp. 317-341. 2015.
    I first provide some background on Sartre’s theory of consciousness and prereflective self-awareness, especially with respect to how it might be favorably compared to my own version of HOT theory. I then critically examine a few initial attempts to understand the ‘acquaintance’ relation and to link it with Sartre’s notion of prereflective self-awareness. I then briefly address a related problem often raised against HOT theory, namely, the problem of misrepresentation. I also critique several fur…Read more
  •  18
    New essays on the rationalists (edited book)
    with Rocco J. Gennaro and Charles Huenemann
    Oxford University Press. 1999.
    This collection presents some of the most vital and original recent writings on Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz, the three greatest rationalists of the early modern period. Their work offered brilliant and distinct integrations of science, morals, metaphysics, and religion, which today remain at the center of philosophical discussion. The essays written especially for this volume explore how these three philosophical systems treated matter, substance, human freedom, natural necessity, knowledge,…Read more