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Map of Science

Rupert, Rob

Professor

Positions

• Professor, Philosophy

Research Areas

• Philosophy

Research

research overview

• I am interested in the empirical study of the mind and the metaphysical nature of our world that allows for the fruitful empirical study of the mind. As a result, my research focuses both on theoretical ideas in cognitive science (concept acquisition, mental content, mental representation, models of human cognitive processing) and in the metaphysics of science (laws of nature, properties, relations of fundamental physics to other sciences). I'm also deeply interested in philosophical method itself, in particular, to what extent and in what way philosophers can generate knowledge independent of the scientific enterprise.

keywords

• Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Cognitive Science, Philosophy of Science, Metaphysics, Epistemology

Publications

selected publications

• book

  • Acting Up An Approach to the Study of Cognitive Development 2015
  • Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind 2009

• chapter

  • Acting Up: What Difference Does an Action-Oriented Approach Make to the Study of Cognitive Development.  53-81. 2016
  • Embodied Functionalism and Inner Complexity: Simon’s Twenty-first Century Mind.  7-33. 2016
  • Against Group Cognitive States.  97-111. 2014
  • The Sufficiency of Objective Representation.  180-196. 2014
    
  • Memory, Natural Kinds, and Cognitive Extension; or, Martians Don't Remember, and Cognitive Science Is Not about Cognition.  Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 25-47. 2013
    
  Causal Theories of Intentionality 2013
  
  “Distributed Cognition and Extended-Mind Theory,”.  209-213. 2013
  Representation in Extended Cognitive Systems: Does the Scaffolding of Language Extend the Mind 2010
  
  Innateness and the Situated Mind 2009
  
  ... more

• journal article

  • Representation in Cognitive Science.  Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. 260-263. 2022
  • Cognitive Systems, Predictive Processing, and the Self.  Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 947-972. 2021
  • Epistemic value in the subpersonal vale.  Synthese: an international journal for epistemology, methodology and philosophy of science. 9243-9272. 2020
    
  • Group Minds and Natural Kinds.  Avant. 2019
  • Representation and mental representation.  Philosophical Explorations: an international journal for the philosophy of mind and action. 204-225. 2018
  EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE, CONCEPTUAL CHANGE, AND THE A PRIORI; OR, JUSTIFICATION, REVISION, AND THE WAYS LIFE. COULD GO.  American Philosophical Quarterly. 169-192. 2016
  Enaction: Toward a New Paradigm for Cognitive Science.  Mind: a quarterly review of philosophy. 206-226. 2016
  Radical Embodied Cognitive Science.  Mind: a quarterly review of philosophy. 206-226. 2016
  The New Science of the Mind: From Extended Mind to Embodied Phenomenology.  Mind: a quarterly review of philosophy. 206-226. 2016
  “Triple Review of J. Stewart, O. Gapenne, and E. A. Di Paolo (eds.), Enaction: Towards a New Paradigm for Cognitive Science; Anthony Chemero, Radical Embodied Cognitive Science; and Mark Rowlands, The New Science of the Mind,” 2016
  Abstract of “In Favour of a Flat Psychology,” in “Report on the Conference ‘Emergence and Causation’ (Macerata, 23–25 September 2015),”.  256-258. 2015
  Embodiment, Consciousness, and Neurophenomenology Embodied Cognitive Science Puts the (First) Person in Its Place.  Journal of Consciousness Studies: controversies in science and the humanities. 148-180. 2015
  Necessity Is Unnecessary: A Response to Bradley.  Nous. 558-564. 2014
  Massively representational minds are not always driven by goals, conscious or otherwise.  Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 145-146. 2014
  
  The Selfish Goal: Autonomously operating motivational structures as the proximate cause of human judgment and behavior.  Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 121-135. 2014
  
  The functionalist's body Interview with Robert D Rupert.  Avant. 258-268. 2014
  The Sufficiency of Objective Representation.  180-196. 2013
  Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension.  Philosophical Review. 304-308. 2012
  Empirical Arguments for Group Minds: A Critical Appraisal.  Philosophy Compass. 630-639. 2011
  On the scientific unity of concepts.  Metascience: an international review journal for the history, philosophy and social studies of science. 147-151. 2011
  Cognitive systems and the supersized mind.  Philosophical Studies: an international journal for philosophy in the analytic tradition. 427-436. 2011
  Embodiment, Consciousness, and the Massively Representational Mind.  Philosophical Topics. 99-120. 2011
  Extended cognition and the priority of cognitive systems.  Cognitive Systems Research. 343-356. 2010
  LOT 2: The Language of Thought Revisited.  Australasian Journal of Philosophy. 559-562. 2010
  Representation in extended cognitive systems: Does the scaffolding of language extend the mind.  325-354. 2010
  Systems, functions, and intrinsic natures: On Adams and Aizawa's The Bounds of Cognition.  Philosophical Psychology. 113-123. 2010
  “Individual Minds as Groups, Group Minds as Individuals, 2010
  Supersizing the Mind: Embodiment, Action, and Cognitive Extension.  Journal of Mind and Behavior. 313-330. 2009
  Critical notice of Andy Clark’s Supersizing the Mind.  313-330. 2009
  The Causal Theory of Properties and the Causal Theory of Reference, or How to Name Properties and Why It Matters.  Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 579-612. 2008
  Ceteris paribus laws, component forces, and the nature of special-science properties.  Nous. 349-380. 2008
  
  Causal Theories of Mental Content.  Philosophy Compass. 353-380. 2008
  Frege's puzzle and Frege cases: Defending a quasi-syntactic solution.  Cognitive Systems Research. 76-91. 2008
  
  Realization, completers, and ceteris paribus laws in psychology.  The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 1-11. 2007
  Functionalism, mental causation, and the problem of metaphysically necessary effects.  Nous. 256-283. 2006
  Minding One's Cognitive Systems: When Does a Group of Minds Constitute a Single Cognitive Unit?.  Episteme. 177-188. 2005
  Challenges to the Hypothesis of Extended Cognition.  Journal of Philosophy. 389-428. 2004
  
  Coining Terms in the Language of Thought: Innateness, Emergence, and the Lot of Cummins's Argument against the Causal Theory of Mental Content.  Journal of Philosophy. 499-499. 2001
  
  The Best Test Theory of Extension: First Principle(s).  Mind and Language. 321-355. 1999
  Mental Representations and Millikan's Theory of Intentional Content: Does Biology Chase Causality?.  The Southern Journal of Philosophy. 113-140. 1999
  ... more

editor of

• journal article

  • Abstract of “In Favour of a Flat Psychology,” in “Report on the Conference ‘Emergence and Causation’ (Macerata, 23–25 September 2015),”.  256-258. 2015

Teaching

courses taught

• PHIL 1400 - Philosophy and the Sciences
  Primary Instructor - Fall 2019 / Spring 2020 / Summer 2020 / Summer 2021 / Summer 2022 / Summer 2023 / Fall 2023 / Summer 2024
  Considers philosophical topics and concepts related to the natural sciences, such as the following: science and pseudo-science; scientific method; the nature of explanation, theory, confirmation, and falsification; the effect of science on basic concepts like mind, freedom, time, and causality; ethics of experimentation; and the relation of science to society.
• PHIL 2440 - Symbolic Logic
  Primary Instructor - Summer 2018 / Summer 2019 / Spring 2023
  Introduces students to sentential logic, the logic of quantification and some of the basic concepts and results of metalogic (interpretations, validity and soundness).
• PHIL 4300 - Philosophy of Mind
  Primary Instructor - Spring 2023
  Discusses topics in the philosophy of mind, including the mind-body problem, consciousness, intentionality, rationality, mental causation and the nature of mental states. Same as PHIL 5300.
• PHIL 5300 - Philosophy of Mind
  Primary Instructor - Spring 2023
  Discusses topics in the philosophy of mind, including the mind-body problem, consciousness, intentionality, rationality, mental causation, and the nature of mental states. Same as PHIL 4300.
• PHIL 6300 - Seminar in Philosophy of Mind
  Primary Instructor - Spring 2020
  Studies selected topics in philosophy of mind.

Background

education and training

• Ph.D., University of Illinois at Chicago 1996
• M.A., University of Illinois at Chicago 1990
• B.A., University of Washington 1987

awards and honors

• Kayden Book Award, conferred by College of Arts and Sciences, 2011
• Provost's Faculty Achievement Award for Pre-Tenure Faculty, conferred by Academic Affairs, 2007
• Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, conferred by National Endowment for the Humanities, 2005
• Fellowships for College Teachers and Independent Scholars, conferred by National Endowment for the Humanities, 2004
• Summer Stipends Awards, conferred by National Endowment for the Humanities, 2002

International Activities

geographic focus

• Americas  Transnational Region
• Austria  Country
• Brazil  Country
• Canada  Country
• China  Country
Europe  Continent
France  Country
Germany  Country
Hungary  Country
Italy  Country
Netherlands  Country
Poland  Country
United Kingdom  Country
eastern Asia  Transnational Region
eastern Europe  Transnational Region
northern Europe  Transnational Region
... more

Other Profiles

ORCID iD

• http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7501-3832

Google Scholar

• https://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C33&q=%22R+Rupert%22+philosophy&oq=R