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18Why Perceptual Experiences cannot be ProbabilisticPhilosophical Quarterly. forthcoming.Perceptual Confidence is the thesis that perceptual experiences can be probabilistic. This thesis has been defended and criticised based on a variety of phenomenological, epistemological, and explanatory arguments. One gap in these arguments is that they neglect the question of whether perceptual experiences satisfy the formal conditions that define the notion of probability to which Perceptual Confidence is committed. Here, we focus on this underexplored question and argue that perceptual exper…Read more
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13Complying with norms. a neurocomputational explorationDissertation, University of Edinburgh. 2012.The subject matter of this thesis can be summarized by a triplet of questions and answers. Showing what these questions and answers mean is, in essence, the goal of my project. The triplet goes like this: Q: How can we make progress in our understanding of social norms and norm compliance? A: Adopting a neurocomputational framework is one effective way to make progress in our understanding of social norms and norm compliance. Q: What could the neurocomputational mechanism of social norm complian…Read more
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13Concept learning in a probabilistic language-of-thought. How is it possible and what does it presuppose?Behavioral and Brain Sciences 46. 2023.Where does a probabilistic language-of-thought (PLoT) come from? How can we learn new concepts based on probabilistic inferences operating on a PLoT? Here, I explore these questions, sketching a traditional circularity objection to LoT and canvassing various approaches to addressing it. I conclude that PLoT-based cognitive architectures can support genuine concept learning; but, currently, it is unclear that they enjoy more explanatory breadth in relation to concept learning than alternative arc…Read more
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7Justin Garson's What Biological Functions Are and Why They Matter (review)BJPS Review of Books. 2020.
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7Constitutive relevance and the personal/subpersonal distinctionPhilosophical Psychology 26 (4): 547-570. 2013.Can facts about subpersonal states and events be constitutively relevant to personal-level phenomena? And can knowledge of these facts inform explanations of personal-level phenomena? Some philosophers, like Jennifer Hornsby and John McDowell, argue for two negative answers whereby questions about persons and their behavior cannot be answered by using information from subpersonal psychology. Knowledge of subpersonal states and events cannot inform personal-level explanation such that they cast l…Read more
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6Climate change, nutrition, poverty and medical drugs are widely discussed and pressing issues in science, policy and society. Despite these issues being of great importance for the quality of our lives it remains unclear how well people understand them. Specifically, do particular demographic and socioeconomic factors explain variation in public understanding of these four concepts? To what extent are people’s changes in understanding associated with changes in their behaviour? Do people judge s…Read more
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3Paul M. Churchland: Plato’s Camera: How the Physical Brain Captures a Landscape of Abstract Universals : MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2012, x+289, $35.00, ISBN 9780262016865 (review)Minds and Machines 23 (2): 263-268. 2013.
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3Olaf Sporns: Networks of the Brain: MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 2011, xi+243, $40.00, ISBN 978-0-262-01469-4 (review)Minds and Machines 23 (2): 259-262. 2013.
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Recipes for Science: An Introduction to Scientific Methods and Reasoning (2nd ed.)Routledge. 2024.Scientific literacy is an essential aspect of an undergraduate education. Recipes for Science responds to this need by providing an accessible introduction to the nature of science and scientific methods appropriate for any beginning college student. The book is adaptable to a wide variety of different courses, such as introductions to scientific reasoning, methods courses in scientific disciplines, science education, and philosophy of science. Recipes for Science was first published in 2018, …Read more
Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mind |
Philosophy of Cognitive Science |
General Philosophy of Science |