New Lab Page

Our lab has a new url and website. Check it out.

Study of Color Discrimination and Memory

We are conducting a study of color discrimination and short-term color memory. I would be grateful if you would participate in the study. You'll need to use the left and right arrow keys to adjust the color of a square to fit the color of a second image. It will only take about 5-10 minutes. Click on the link below to begin.
www.synesthesiaresearch.com/study

Fordham's "Varieties of Understanding" Project

The Philosophy Department at Fordham University is pleased to announce its three-year “Varieties of Understanding” project.

The project will sponsor research in psychology, philosophy, and theology that will examine the various ways in which human beings understand the world, how these various types of understanding might be improved, and how they might be combined with one another to produce an integrated understanding of the world.

For more details, and for information on how to apply for funding, please see the project website.

The project is supported by a 3.56 million dollar grant from the John Templeton Foundation, with additional support from the Henry Luce Foundation, Fordham University, and the University of California, Berkeley.

CFP: Semantics and Philosophy in Europe 6

First Call for Papers

Semantics and Philosophy in Europe 6

It is our pleasure to announce the 6^th Semantics and Philosophy in Europe Colloquium (SPE6), which this year will take place in St Petersburg during the White Nights.

Place: Bobrinsky Palace, Smolny College, St Petersburg

Time: June 10-14, 2013

INVITED SPEAKERS

GNENERAL SESSION:

Barbara Partee (University of Massachusetts, Amherst / Moscow University)

Kjell Johann Saebo (University of Oslo)

SPECIAL SESSIONS:

[1] The Interface between Linguistic Semantics and Philosophy of Mind

Berit Brogaard (University of Missouri, Saint Louis)

Frances Egan (Rutgers University)

Scott Soames (University of Southern California)

Tutorial:

Robert Matthews (Rutgers University)

Friederike Moltmann (CNRS, Paris)

[2] The Status of Semantics in the History of Generative Grammar

John Collins (University of East Anglia)

Wolfram Hinzen (Durham/Barcelona)

Robert May / Adam Sennett (UC Davis)

Howard Lasnik (University of Maryland)

[3] Empirical Methods in the Investigation of Semantics

Erica Cosentino (Calabria/Bochum)

Tatiana Chernigovskaya (St Petersburg)

Natalia Slioussar (Utrecht/ St Petersburg)

Markus Werning (Bochum)

Abstract Submission Details:

Please send an anonymous two-page long abstract to: slioussar@gmail.com

On a separate page please specify whether the submission is for the general session or one of the special sessions and mention title and your name, affiliation, and e-mail address

Abstract Submission Deadline: March 22, 2013

Notification of Acceptance: April 5, 2013

Organizing Committee of SPE6:

Berit Brogaard, Tatiana Chernigovskaya, Wolfram Hinzen, Robert Matthews, Robert May, Friederike Moltmann, Markus Werning, Ede Zimmermann

Conference website: TBA

Synesthesia Survey

If you are a synesthete, please complete this synesthesia survey for our lab. Thank you.

'Seem' and Seemings

A rough draft of my paper "A semantic account of 'seem' and seemings" is available here. Feel free to email me your comments.

Special Issue of Philosophical Studies on High-Level Properties in Perception

My special issue of Philosophical Studies on high-level properties in perception will be out in the next issue of the journal. It includes contributions by Jennifer Matey, Heather Logue, Ophelia DeRoy, Nico Silins, Bill Fish, Tim Bayne & Ryan Perkins (co-authored contribution), and Roy Sorensen.

Formal Epistemology Course Next Semester

Some of you have requested the course description for the formal epistemology course I am teaching next semester. So I am posting it here.

Formal Epistemology
This course is an upper-level graduate course in formal epistemology that will serve as a broad foundation for anyone who is hoping to get into a good Ph.D. program in philosophy. In the course we will cover Bayesian probability theory and degrees of belief, de se belief, the nature of a priori knowledge, the nature of justification and the knowability paradox. The main book we will read is David Chalmers' Constructing the World. We will also cover several articles in the different areas dealt with in the class. Each week there will be writing assignments devoted to the concepts covered in the course. Students will also be required to write a term paper within the area of formal epistemology. The course encourages, but does not require, prior knowledge of two-dimensional semantics. Undergraduate students can take the course with prior permission from the instructor.

News Posts on the Brain and Superhuman Abilities

We have posted a couple of new posts to our blog on superhuman ability over at Psychology Today

Change Blindness

See if you can identify the change in this picture. This one is a bit harder.

New Psychology Today blog

I am contributing to a Psychology Today blog, The Superhuman Mind, which may be of interest to you. The first post is up.

Change Blindness

    See if you identify the part of the image that changes.

College Drop-Out Becomes Accidental Genius

Our paper on a savant with acquired synesthesia is now out.

More Bad News for Women in Academia

The New York Times, Sept. 24, 2012, has a blurb reporting on a finding in science about this, entitled: Bias Persists for Women of Science, a Study Finds *HT: Claus Emmeche)

CFP: Piece of Mind Graduate Conference

New Research Center in Edinburgh

The Department of Philosophy in Edinburgh just announced the launch of a new research center called Eidyn: The Edinburgh Centre for Epistemology, Mind and Normativity. This center will specialize in the areas of epistemology, metaethics, philosophy of mind and cognitive science. It will also be home to empirical and philosophical research projects in these areas, including their recendely funded research project "Extended Knowledge". The center will further sponsor grad students, postdocs, and visiting fellows.

New Synesthesia Blog

Our synesthesia lab has started a new blog on synesthesia. It will feature stories and news from our lab and hopefully from other synesthesia researchers around the world. Kristian Marlow has just posted the first post. Feel free to check it out!

New Synesthesia Lab Site

Check out our new synesthesia lab site, which Kristian Marlow created. Feel free to click the "like" button on the site :-)

Synesthesia Joke

A grapheme-color synesthete asked a non-synesthete: "What color is your 'P'?". The other person puzzled said "Yellow?" (Thanks to Lidell Simpson and Carol Steen)

Encyclopedia Entry on Color Synesthesia

I just posted a draft of my encyclopedia entry on color synesthesia. The link is here. Feel free to send comments.

Man becomes genius after head injury

Nightline did a feature on our case study, JP, who has acquired synesthesia and savant syndrome

Poetry Slam

This was one of the syn team's contributions to the poetry slam night at Tucson, 2012

The rave of all conferences (Tucson 2012)

Sitting in the audience, sweating, ice water
in our hands, sweating
boiled blood for later use. The rave
is here. The rave of all conferences
Cactuses and scorpions. The rave
The war
of the world views. The massacre
of consciousness
DCs
all over the place,
the rave,
cactuses pricking your mind
pricking, pricking, PRICKING
the rave
The massacre of consciousness, the rave
WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE? WHAT IS IT LIKE?
Deepak Chopra and molecules
David Chalmers and mindfulness
David Copperfield and magic
Dane Cook and mockery
Don Corleone and the mafia
DCs. DCs all over the place. DCs, DCs, DCssss. The rave
Mindfulness, magic, molecules, happy molecules,
Small drops of magic
Mindfulness, molecules, mockery, mafia
Misanthropy
Misanthropy
Misanthropy
Deepak pricking Jesse
unconscious and unattentive
Jesse pricking Bob Kentridge
unconscious and attentive
Attention. Attention. Attention. ATTENTION
GET OUT
of the hospitality suite. Get out
Jesse Prinz! Attention. Attention. The rave.
Rave, magic, mafia:
Out. Out. Out. OUT!
Of the hospitality suite! Out!
The woman, the security guard, the rave
The woman, angry, foaming, red, pricking, like a cactus.
Pricking.
At the Tucson conference, women are more dangerous than shotguns
Pricking. Becoming cactuses. Shutting us out.
There are no worries. Only zombies worry. No worries
The zombies made her an offer she couldn't refuse
We drink
the zombies
We drink
zombie blood
We drink, we speak, we prick, we party
after consciousness.
Zombies party
after the rave
the rave, the cactuses, the shotguns, the zombies, the pricking, the mafia, the molecules
happy molecules, the rave
the rave of all conferences

Evolution in Biology, the Human Sciences and the Humanities, St. Louis April 26-28

I am really looking forward to this conference here in St. Louis, particularly Patricia Churchland's talk on Saturday April 28.

Promotion and First Book

I recently received two pieces of good news. I got the promotion to full professor and my first book Transient Truths is out with Oxford University Press.

Scientists actually read our articles

I just realized that my article "Are there unconscious perceptual processes?" is among the 25 most downloaded Consciousness and Cognition articles in 2011. So it seems that scientists actually read our articles.

New Affiliation

I am happy to report that I joined the education team at Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies. From the mission statement: "We, the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies team, are committed to reducing - and ultimately help eliminating - destructive disrespect and humiliation all over the world. We work in three areas (research, education, and intervention) and at all levels (macro, meso, and micro levels), inspired by universal values such as equality in dignity, humility, mutual respect, caring and compassion, and a sense of shared planetary rights and responsibilities. We generate interdisciplinary research (both intra- and interculturally) and disseminate information aimed at enhancing awareness of human dignity. We also apply creative educational methods and strategies, and devise pilot projects and advise on public policy planning."

Talk on Mathematical Savants on Thursday

I am giving a talk on Thursday on mathematical savantism. Feel free to stop by if you are in the St. Louis area. Here is the info (from the center):

"On Thursday March 15, Center member Prof. Berit Brogaard will give a special colloquium jointly sponsored by the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science and the Center for Neurodynamics. Please join us at 3 pm in 302 Express Scripts Hall (coffee & cookies available before at 2:30) to hear about Prof. Brogaard's brain imaging studies of a mathematical savant. Her talk will explore the boundaries between neuroscience, mathematics, and the philosophy of mind."

Color & Philosophy Conference March 2-3, 2012

Organizer

Michael Watkins
Department Chair
Lanier Professor
Department of Philosophy
Auburn University



Speakers

Jule Collins Smith Museum of Art, Auburn University
David Hilbert, University of Illinois, Chicago
Diana Raffman, University of Toronto
Larry Hardin, Syracuse University
Brian McLaughlin, Rutgers University
Alex Byrne, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Jonathan Cohen, University of California, San Diego
Janet Levin, University of Southern California
Berit Brogaard, University of Missouri, St. Louis
Zed Adams, The New School for Social Research
Joshua Gert, The College of William and Mary
Michael Watkins, Auburn University

Sponsored by the Auburn Philosophy Department
With assistance from the Auburn Philosophy Club and the Auburn College of Liberal Arts

For more Information

Press Release/Newsletter Article for Publicity (January 23, 2012)

Our chair Gualtiero Piccinini asked me to post this.

PHILOSOPHY SALON MARKS REBIRTH OF PHILOSOPHY DEPARTMENT

St. Louis, Missouri) The Philosophy Department at the University of Missouri-St. Louis is experiencing a rebirth. UMSL offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees in philosophy and has recruited distinguished faculty from here and abroad to demonstrate the relevance of philosophy in contemporary society.

As a 2012 initiative, worthy of the name, the Philosophy Department hosted a 'salon' on the evening of January 20th showcasing the talents of one of his department's brightest stars, Professor Berit Brogaard. Guests arrived at 7:00 p.m. at the World's Fair-era home of Thomas (an alum of the Philosophy M.A.) and Christine Knoten in Parkview, St. Louis County. Chancellor Thomas George mingled with the Honorable Vincent Schoemehl and other guests. In a living room lighted by candelabra and to the muffled sound of clinking champagne flutes, Professor Brogaard wowed her audience of twenty-two with a formal presentation titled: The Superhuman Mind. Tall, elegant and with command of her material, this native of Copenhagen, Denmark left the ladies thinking that she had integrated the study of philosophy into contemporary society. She left not a few of the gentleman in her audience thinking, with homage to Shakespeare, "O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!"

The Department Chair, Dr. Gualtiero Piccinini, congratulated Professor Brogaard for her excellent presentation and as a humble token of appreciation made her a present of a box of chocolates. He then announced that the catered buffet would be served forthwith in the dining room.

Chief among Philosophy student volunteers on hand was Krista Hyde, a graduate teaching assistant who aspires to a career teaching philosophy in either the traditional classroom or in venues such as this salon.

Overheard from Professor Eric Wieland during the champagne reception was the Latin accolade:"Tempum bonum habebatur ab omnibus." to which Professor Andrew Black of Great Britain nodded: "So say we all!"

Good news: we are still ranked nationally

We just received the following good news from our chair Gualtiero Piccinini, which I thought was worth repeating here in case you are considering applying to our MA program.

In recent years, our Philosophy MA was ranked as one of the 9 best terminal MA programs in philosophy in the country by the Philosophical Gourmet Report-the most authoritative and up to date ranking of English-speaking graduate programs in philosophy, edited by Brian Leiter of the University of Chicago. Given our recent losses (Ron Munson to retirement, Anna Alexandrova and Robert Northcott currently on leave but expected to stay in the UK), I was worried that this year we would lose our national ranking.

As you may know, a couple of days ago the 2011 Philosophical Gourmet Report was published. To my relief, we are still listed among the 9 best terminal MA programs in the country.

More good news: As a temporary replacement for Robert and Anna we have been able to hire two new people.

Noell Birondo, coming to us from Augustana College, will be a visiting assistant professor for the next two years. Noell obtained his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 2004. Besides Augustana College, he has taught at University of Arizona, SIUE, Pomona College, and Claremont McKenna College. Some of his publications are listed here.

Corey Maley is finishing up his dissertation at Princeton University and will be a postdoctoral fellow for the next year and a half. More information about his already distinguished record can be found here.

Eudaimonistic Virtue Epistemology

I just uploaded a first rough draft of my Eudaimonistic Virtue Epistemology paper to my website. If you're interested, you can find it here.

Zach Ernst writes about unprincipled denial of tenure

Philosopher Zach Ernst writes about his female colleague and wife who was just denied tenure by her department:

She was also specifically faulted for failing to design new courses for the department. If this strikes you as odd, it should – after all, I have also never designed a new course for the department. Nor was I ever asked to do so. But in my case, this issue never arose. Finally, with respect to her teaching, she was faulted for not teaching a wide enough variety of courses. But as I’ve already mentioned, our courses are assigned by fiat by the chair of the department, without our input or approval. And as you might expect by now, this issue never arose during my tenure process, despite the fact that both she and I taught exactly what we were assigned. Regarding her research, she was faulted because several of her papers were co authored – and as I’ve mentioned already, co-authored work and collaboration of any kind is discouraged in our department. However, a much larger percentage of my own publications were co-authored, often with three other colleagues. And predictably, this issue about co-authored publications was never raised during my tenure review. In fact, our department had recently adopted a policy about credit for co-authored work, which was scrupulously followed by both of us. If anyone should have come under criticism for this issue, it should have been me. I could go on. She had a vastly greater number of more prestigious presentations than I have ever had, many of which were in international forums (none of mine were). She had a larger number of invited articles to the most prestigious presses in her field, many more than I have ever had, despite the fact that I am two years senior to her. And despite all of this, my tenure case was a breeze, and hers has been a failure. When a man and a woman are being evaluated in a male-dominated field such as ours, it’s easy to spot hypocrisy and sexism. I would submit that this is one such case.

Here is the link to the full article. I have seen this happen repeatedly in recent times. Women are held to much higher standards than men in tenure and promotion cases.

Dan Ariely on our buggy moral code

This is not a new video but I think it's pretty interesting.

Seeing as a Non-Sensory Relation: The Case from Synesthesia and Visual Imagery

A friend of mine recently asked me whether I thought synesthesia has any philosophical consequences or is just an independently interesting phenomenon. I think it has numerous philosophical consequences. In this paper I outline some consequences of synesthesia for the analysis of the concept of seeing. This is still just a rough draft. Comments are welcome.

Center for Neurodynamics

I just accepted an appointment at the Center for Neurodynamics, directed by physicist Sonya Barhar, at University of Missouri, St. Louis. So my time will be split among my current two departments and the center. I am really looking forward to collaborating with these people. I have also joined the Network for Sensory Research as a research associate. That should be really fun, too.