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38Reflecting on Pre-Reflective Self-ConsciousnessProtoSociology 36 157-185. 2019.Most philosophers in the phenomenological tradition hold that in addition to the explicit self-consciousness we might get in reflection, there is also a pre-reflective self-consciousness. Despite its popularity, it can be a little difficult to get a grasp on this notion. It can seem impossibly thin—such that it really amounts to little more than a restatement of the notion of consciousness—or problematically robust—such that it seems to conflict with the apparent transparency of consciousness. T…Read more
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31Physicalism, supervenience, and monismSynthese 200 (6): 1-19. 2022.Physicalism is standardly construed as a form of monism, on which all concrete phenomena fall under one fundamental type. It is natural to think that monism, and therefore physicalism, is committed to a supervenience claim. Monism is true only if all phenomena supervene on a certain fundamental type of phenomena. Physicalism, as a form of monism, specifies that these fundamental phenomena are physical. But some argue that physicalism might be true even if the world is disorderly, i.e., not order…Read more
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25Self-Awareness and The Elusive SubjectOxford University Press. 2023.The existence of a self seems both mysterious and inevitable. On the one hand, philosophers from the Buddha to Sartre doubt its existence. As Hume writes, when we introspect we find thoughts, feelings, and conscious states, but nothing that has them. The subject of experience is elusive, but its existence seems certain. Descartes’ cogito is beyond doubt and the thought that “I am thinking” involves an undeniable form of self-awareness. Self-Awareness and the Elusive Subject develops and defends …Read more
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21Kant and the Demands of Self-Consciousness (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 63 (3): 733-736. 2001.
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19Consciousness and the Mind-Body Problem: A ReaderOup Usa. 2011.Ideal for courses in consciousness and the philosophy of mind, Consciousness and The Mind-Body Problem: A Reader presents thirty-three classic and contemporary readings, organized into five sections that cover the major issues in this debate: the challenge for physicalism, physicalist responses, alternative responses, the significance of ignorance, and mental causation. Edited by Torin Alter and Robert J. Howell, the volume features work from such leading figures as Karen Bennett, Ned Block, Dav…Read more
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18Review of Lucy O'Brien, Self-Knowing Agents (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2008 (3). 2008.
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15Immunity to Error and SubjectivityCanadian Journal of Philosophy 37 (4): 581-604. 2007.Since Sydney Shoemaker published his seminal article ‘Self-Reference and Self-Awareness’ in 1968, the notion of ‘Immunity to Error through Misidentification’ has received much attention. It crops up in discussions of personal identity, indexical thought and introspection, and has been used to interpret remarks made by philosophers from Wittgenstein to William James. The precise significance of IEM is often unspecified in these discussions, however. It is unclear, for example, whether itconstitut…Read more
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13Make your self scarce: The Ego Trick: What Does it Mean to be You? by Julian Baggini (Granta)£ 14.99 (review)The Philosophers' Magazine 55 100-101. 2011.
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5The God Dialogues: A Philosophical JourneyOxford University Press USA. 2010.The God Dialogues is an intriguing and extensive philosophical debate about the existence of God. Engaging and accessible, it covers all the main arguments for and against God's existence, from traditional philosophical "proofs" to arguments that involve the latest developments in biology and physics. Three main characters represent the principal views: Theodore Logan, the theist; Eva Lucien, the atheist; and Gene Sesquois, the agnostic. Their debate takes place during a post-college cross-count…Read more
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3Kant, the ‘I Think’, and Self-AwarenessIn Predrag Cicovacki, Allen Wood, Carsten Held, Gerold Prauss, Gordon Brittan, Graham Bird, Henry Allison, John H. Zammito, Joseph Lawrence, Karl Ameriks, Ralf Meerbote, Robert Holmes, Robert Howell, Rudiger Bubner, Stanley Rosen, Susan Meld Shell & Yirmiyahu Yovel (eds.), Kant's Legacy: Essays in Honor of Lewis White Beck, Boydell & Brewer. pp. 117-152. 2001.
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Should ethics be taught? Ethics in the secular universityIn C. R. Crespo & Rita Kirk (eds.), Ethics at the heart of higher education, Pickwick Publications. 2020.