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48Decision-Making and Self-Governing SystemsNeuroethics 11 (3): 245-257. 2016.Neuroscience has illuminated the neural basis of decision-making, providing evidence that supports specific models of decision-processes. These models typically are quite mechanical, the realization of abstract mathematical “diffusion to bound” models. While effective decision-making seems to be essential for sophisticated behavior, central to an account of freedom, and a necessary characteristic of self-governing systems, it is not clear how the simple models neuroscience inspires can underlie …Read more
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40Review of Paul Thagard, The Brain and the Meaning of Life (review)Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews 2010 (7). 2010.
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38Can the Law Do Without Retributivism? Comments on Erin Kelly’s The Limits of BlameCriminal Law and Philosophy 15 (2): 217-222. 2020.Erin Kelly’s The Limits of Blame presents a critique of our current overly-punitive legal system and champions a system of criminal justice that does not traffic in moral blame and is free of retributivist elements. This commentary questions the viability of such a system, and ultimately suggests that there is not much distance between a more perfect retributivist system and the kind of nuanced and humane system of criminal justice that Kelly envisions.
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34Dimensions of Agency: Conceptual and Data-Driven ApproachesAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 12 (2-3): 189-191. 2021.
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30Language-of-thought hypothesis: Wrong, but sometimes useful?Behavioral and Brain Sciences 46. 2023.Quilty-Dunn et al. maintain that language-of-thought hypothesis (LoTH) is the best game in town. We counter that LoTH is merely one source of models – always wrong, sometimes useful. Their reasons for liking LoTH are compatible with the view that LoTH provides a sometimes pragmatically useful level of abstraction over processes and mechanisms that fail to fully live up to LoT requirements.
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28Moral Status or Moral Value? The Former May Require Phenomenal Consciousness, But Does It Matter?American Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 14 (2): 175-177. 2023.Shepherd (2023) is concerned about the moral status of nonhumans and argues that consciousness-based approaches to moral status are inadequate to guide policy decisions. Consciousness-based approac...
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24Rationalization and the status of folk psychologyBehavioral and Brain Sciences 43. 2020.Cushman's theory has implications for the philosophical debate about the nature of folk psychological states, for it entails realism about propositional attitudes. I point out a tension within his view and suggest a different view upon which rationalization emerges as a consequence of the adaptiveness of mentalizing. This alternative avoids the strong metaphysical implications of Cushman's theory.
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23Alfred R. Mele's Effective Intentions: The Power of Conscious WillPhilosophical Books 51 (3): 127-143. 2010.
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22Neuroethics: Considering Its Scope and LimitsAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 1 (4): 1-2. 2010.
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18Bioethics, EarlyView.
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18Memory Deletion Threatens Authenticity by Destabilizing ValuesAmerican Journal of Bioethics Neuroscience 12 (1): 52-54. 2021.
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11The Two Greatest Ideas: How Our Grasp of the Universe and Our Minds Changed Everything by Linda Trinkaus ZagzebskiReview of Metaphysics 75 (3): 613-615. 2022.
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11Visualizing human brain functionIn E. Bizzi, P. Calissano & V. Volterra (eds.), Frontiers of Life, Vol Iii: The Intelligent Systems, Part One: The Brain of Homo Sapiens, Academic Press. 2001.Running head: Functional neuroimaging Abstract Several recently developed techniques enable the investigation of the neural basis of cognitive function in the human brain. Two of these, PET and fMRI, yield whole-brain images reflecting regional neural activity associated with the performance of specific tasks. This article explores the spatial and temporal capabilities and limitations of these techniques, and discusses technical, biological, and cognitive issues relevant to understanding the goa…Read more
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10Self-consciousness and "Split" Brains: The Mind's I by Elizabeth SchechterReview of Metaphysics 72 (3): 612-613. 2019.
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64. Triangulation and Objectivity: Squaring the Circle?In Maria Cristina Amoretti & Gerhard Preyer (eds.), Triangulation: From an Epistemological Point of View, De Gruyter. pp. 97-102. 2011.
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3A case study in neuroethics: the nature of moral judgmentIn Judy Illes (ed.), Neuroethics: Defining the Issues in Theory, Practice, and Policy, Oxford University Press. 2005.
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3What Happens After a Neural Implant Study? Neuroethics Expert Workshop on Post-Trial ObligationsNeuroethics 17 (2): 1-14. 2024.What happens at the end of a clinical trial for an investigational neural implant? It may be surprising to learn how difficult it is to answer this question. While new trials are initiated with increasing regularity, relatively little consensus exists on how best to conduct them, and even less on how to ethically end them. The landscape of recent neural implant trials demonstrates wide variability of what happens to research participants after an neural implant trial ends. Some former research p…Read more
Hanover, New Hampshire, United States of America
Areas of Interest
Philosophy of Mind |
Philosophy of Cognitive Science |
Philosophy of Physical Science |