Shaun Gallagher @ University of Memphis
Fall 2024PhD Seminar: Pragmatism and phenomenology
Historically there were limited connections among proponents of pragmatism and proponents of phenomenology (with a few exceptions); indeed, there were zero personal contacts between the major figures in these traditions (Peirce, James, Dewey on the side of pragmatism; Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, Merleau-Ponty in phenomenology), although one exception is Royce and Husserl via some intermediaries. The notable influence of James on Husserl’s philosophy was primarily in the area of psychology and was unrelated to James’ later work on pragmatism. Nonetheless, there are significant theoretical parallels, for example, between Peirce and Husserl, and between Dewey and Merleau-Ponty. More explicit connections start to emerge in neo-pragmatism (e.g., Rorty), and in recent work on embodied cognition which in some respects has been said to involve a ‘pragmatic turn’. The seminar will explore all of these connections and lack of connections. Guest lectures by Prof. Cathy Legg (Deakin U.) and Prof. Guido Baggio (U. Rome-Tre).
Fall 2023PhD Seminar: Aesthetics and skilled performance
The focus of this seminar is the intersection between aesthetics and skilled performance. Recent philosophical work on skilled performance in the performing arts and athletics, building on work in both phenomenology and science, has provided a nuanced view that describes an integration of multiple factors (motor control, perception, emotion, physical/social/cultural environments). In contrast to some traditional views of aesthetic experience that focus on the observer stance, a different perspective is introduced when we ask about the performer’s experience. We’ll consider Kantian, phenomenological, pragmatic and enactive views on aesthetic experience and their implications for understanding the work of art. Guest lectures: Maria Brincker (U. Mass-Boston); Mark Johnson (U. Oregon); Mike Wheeler (Stirling); Shay Welch (Spellman); Evelyn Tribble (U. Conn); Christian Kronsted (Merrimack); Kevin Ryan (U. Tenn - Knoxville); Simon Hoffding (Univ South Denmark); John Carvalho (Villanova).
Cognitive Science Seminar: Embodied Cognition
Embodied cognition presents an alternative to standard cognitivist views in cognitive science. The seminar will review various approaches to embodied cognition, usually termed the 4Es: embodied, embedded (or ecological), extended and enactive cognition. These approaches motivate a number of contemporary debates and critical responses to questions about the role of brain, body and environment in cognition; notions of representation, affordance, affectivity, dynamical attunement; relations between perception and action, predictive processing and active inference. We’ll also explore the implications for topics pertaining to education, social cognition and psychiatry. Guest lectures by Louise Barrett, Anthony Chemero, Karl Friston, Art Glenberg, Takashi Ikegami, Mark Johnson, David Kirsh, Mike Wheeler and others in the areas of philosophy, neurobiology, psychology, psychiatry, computer science and AI.
Fall 2022PhD Seminar: Relational autonomy and collective intentionality (with Deb Tollefsen)
The concept of relational autonomy, as developed in feminist and critical theory contexts, is based on the idea that individuals are socially embedded, that their identities are formed in social relationships and shaped in the complexity of intersecting social factors, such as race, class and gender. In this seminar we consider the connection between relational autonomy and intersubjective recognition, and then ask how the practices of institutions or collectives can enhance or undermine autonomy. After reviewing some traditional conceptions of autonomy, we’ll read contemporary essays that address a variety of issues concerning relational autonomy and collective intentionality. Many of the texts will be by philosophers who will be speaking at the Spindel Conference, including Catriona Mackenzie, Dan Zahavi, Georg Theiner, Mason Cash, and Andrea Westlund.
Fall 2021PhD Seminar: The phenomenology of time
In this seminar, after a brief exploration of some historical background we will engage in a detailed study of Husserl’s analysis of internal time-consciousness (or intrinsic temporality), differences between him and Brentano, James, and others, with special focus on the concept of the specious present. We then explore how temporality is treated in Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty, Derrida, and some recent feminist philosophy. We’ll also examine how Husserl is taken up in approaches informed by neuroscience, predictive processing, and other recent philosophical interpretations in both analytic and enactive approaches. Finally, we’ll look at how the phenomenology of time informs psychiatric undersandings of depression and schizophrenia. Visiting lecturers: Prof. Dieter Lohmar from the Husserl Archives in Cologne, Germany; Prof. Lanei Rodemeyer from Duquesne Universit; Prof. Somogy Varga from Aarhus University in Denmark.
Fall 2020PhD Seminar: Self and psychopathology
In this seminar we’ll take a close look at different conceptions of self and person and some of the traditional problems associated with these concepts. We’ll consider questions about both phenomenology and ontology, including concepts of minimal self, no self (as in Buddhism), personal and narrative identity, and pluralist conceptions of the self. We’ll then look at what can go wrong with the self in various psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, depression, autism, anxiety disorders, depersonalization and in various therapeutic circumstances. How do philosophical theories of self help us to understand such disorders, and how do such disorders help us to decide among philosophical theories? Guest lectures (via Zoom because of the pandemic): Marya Schechtman, Louis Sass, Matthew Ratcliffe, Miriam Kyselo and Dan Zahavi.
Fall 2019PhD Seminar: Hermeneutics: Intersubjectivity and Interpretation
Although historically the main target of hermeneutics has been the interpretation of texts, there are many relevant discussions in Dilthey, Gadamer, Ricoeur and other authors in this tradition about a more immediate understanding of other persons in face-to-face interactions. In this seminar we will explore contemporary issues surrounding questions about intersubjectivity and social cognition, viewing them through the hermeneutical lens. Dilthey, for example, outlines a concept of empathy and takes it to be the basis for a method for the human and social sciences. Gadamer’s hermeneutical model borrows directly from the dynamics of conversation. Ricoeur insists on the role of alterity as central to concepts of recognition and self-interpretation. These kinds of analyses can be directly related to discussions of intercorporeity (Merleau-Ponty) and embodied and socially extended cognition, as well as to concepts of 'second person', relational autonomy, and hermeneutical injustice in feminism and critical theory. We’ll also push hermeneutics to where it has never gone before by exploring recent studies on pragmatist conceptions of situation, embodied communicative patterns, and the application of dishonest anthropomorphism in robotics. Guest lectures: Anita Avramides (Oxford University), Dina Mendonça (New U. Lisbon), Jessica Lindblom (Skövde University) and Anna Ciaunica (U. London).
Fall 2018PhD Seminar: Narrative and imagination
The course will cover major issues and debates in recent philosophy addressing narrative and imagination. Narrative is a much discussed topic in connection with questions about the nature of self and self-understanding, moral evaluation and decision making, and the understanding of others. Although there is much written on the topic of imagination in the history of philosophy, explanations of what imagination (as a cognitive state) is, and how it works, still appear as problematic in recent phenomenology and philosophy of mind. In some discussions the discussion of narrative and imagination overlap (e.g., discussions of empathy and simulation theory of social cognition). Visiting lectures: Marya Schechtman (U. Illinois-Chicago); Claudio Paolucci (University of Bologna); Cisco Parisi (U. Messina).
Fall 2017PhD Seminar: Embodiment and psychopathology
Notions of embodiment and embodied experience, informed by phenomenology, psychology and the cognitive sciences have been challenging standard approaches in psychiatry. In this seminar we will explore the philosophical implications of various embodied approaches to psychopathology. We'll discuss disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, depression, and a variety of body-related disorders, such as anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder; various approaches to diagnostic and therapeutic practices based on, for example, the DSM-V, the Copenhagen School of Phenomenological Psychiatry, Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Body-Psychotherapy and Deep Brain Stimulation. (Co-taught with Somogy Varga). Guest lectures: Katsunori Miyahara (Harvard); Roy Dings (Nijmegen); Yochai Ataria (Weitzmann Institute, Israel); Johannes Michalak (Witten).
Spring 2017
MA Course: Philosophy of Mind
The course will cover major issues and debates in recent philosophy of mind after reviewing some of the basic concepts and discussions. Topics include behaviorism; reductive, non-reductive, and eliminative versions of materialism; functionalism; phenomenal consciousness; computational models; mental causation; action, free will, notions of self, and more recent embodied, enactive and extended models of the mind. There will be some guest lectures, and some of the philosophers we will be reading will be visiting the philosophy department and the cognitive science seminar this semester. Guest lectures: Julian Kiverstein (Amsterdam); Adrian Alsmith (Copenhagen); Karsten Stueber (Holy Cross).
Cognitive Science Graduate Seminar: Distributed cognition
Distributed cognition refers to the ways in which human cognition may be distributed rather than localized. It encompasses a number of different positions including the idea that cognition is a function of massive parallel distribution across the brain, that cognition is distributed across brain and body, that cognition is distributed across brains, bodies, and environments, and that cognition can be distributed across groups of individuals. This seminar will explore and critically evaluate these and related positions. (Co-taught with Deb Tollefsen). Guest lectures: Georg Theiner (Villanova); Rick Dale (UC Merced); Susan Goldin-Meadow (Chicago); Julian Kiverstein (Amsterdam); Art Graesser (Memphis); Robb Lindgren (Urbana-Champaign); Lambros Malafouris (Oxford); Elizabeth Pacherie (Jean Nicod, Paris); Steve Fiore (UCF).
Fall 2016
PhD Seminar: Embodied cognition
The seminar will explore recent and ongoing debates in embodied cognition (EC) and the 4E (embodied, embedded, enactive and extended) approaches, and will consider the possibility of adding another E (ecological) and an A (affective) to these considerations. We'll look at the philosophical background of EC in phenomenology and pragmatism, and examine the current challenge from predictive coding accounts of cognition. We'll also explore a number of other problems that EC is facing: the problem of representation, the scaling-up problem, and the so-far underdeveloped issues of gender and race in EC approaches. Guest lectures: Tony Chemero (Cincinatti); Laureen Freeman (Louisville); Claudio Paolucci (Bologna).
Fall 2015
PhD Seminar: Merleau-Ponty
Graduate lecture course: PhenomenologyThe seminar will cover the major early works of Merleau-Ponty, The Structure of Behavior and Phenomenology of Perception. We'll consider Merleau-Ponty's place in the history of phenomenology and existentialism. We'll also read some of his later works, including selections from The Visible and the Invisible and selected essays. Our main focus will be on reading the texts; we'll also look at Merleau-Ponty's influence on embodied cognition approaches in recent philosophy and psychology and implications of his work for feminism, psychoanalysis, and aesthetics. (Co-taught with Dylan Trigg). Guest lectures: David Morris (Concordia, Montreal); James Morley (Ramapo).
The seminar will focus on topics such as consciousness, embodiment, perception, meaning, the experience of time and intersubjectivity. In this course we look at the historical origins of phenomenology and at the latest developments in a variety of applications. Students will have the opportunity to pursue their own research topics, which may include topics related to applications outside of strictly philosophical topics.
Fall 2014
PhD Seminar: Action and interaction
Undergraduate course: Critical theoryWe'll look at recent work on action theory, especially concepts of agency, intention, and joint action. Deb Tollefsen with join us for some meetings and we'll discuss her work on joint attention and collective intentionality. These topics lead to questions about social interaction and social cognition. We'll look at various theories of social cognition, including ToM and interaction theory. The final part of the seminar will focus on the implications of all this for social and political topics, especially the concept of recognition in critical theory (Honneth), and concepts of friendship and justice.
Critical theory is a contemporary philosophical approach to political, ethical, aesthetic, and epistemological issues. This course focuses on political issues concerning the nature of democracy, justice, political communication and practice. Critical theory has its roots in the Enlightenment period and in the philosophies of Kant, Hegel, and Marx. In the 20th-century it is advanced in the writings of the Frankfurt School of Social Criticism, and it becomes the philosophical source for contemporary movements like critical legal studies and critical theory of education. We'll look closely at the Frankfurt School thinkers, including Habermas and Honneth.
Spring 2014
PhD Seminar: Self and self-consciousness
Graduate lecture course: Philosophy of MindThe seminar started with a brief historical look at the notions of self (soul, subject, person, ego) as they develop in the philosophical tradition, including the 20th-c phenomenological tradition. The primary focus of the course will be on contemporary issues surrounding concepts of self and self-consciousness. Contemporary discussions involve questions about whether there is such a thing as self, and if so, when it begins (ontogenetically), whether it is primimarily a product of brain processes, psychological processes, narrative practices or is more holistically embodied. In these regards, challenges to the existence and status of the self have been posed from a variety of perspectives, including Buddhism, neuroscience, social constructionism, feminism and poststructuralism. We'll also consider questions about what happens when self and self-consciousness break down in pathologies, and whether we should think of the self as having a moral status.
The course will cover major issues and positions in recent philosophy of mind after reviewing some of the basic concepts and discussions. Topics include behaviorism; reductive, non-reductive, and eliminative versions of materialism; functionalism; phenomenal consciousness; computational models; mental causation; action, free will, personal identity, and more recent embodied, enactive and extended models of the mind.
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.Fall 2012
PhD Seminar: Hermeneutics
Hermeneutics has a long history. We'll start with a nod to Plato's Ion, but then jump to the German tradition of Enlightenment and Romantic theories of interpretation ini Chladenius,Schleiermacher, Dilthey, and a few others. The central focus of the seminar will be on Gadamer's Truth and Method. We'll then follow this out into the various debates that Gadamer has with figures such as Betti (philosophy of law) Habermas (critical theory), and Derrida (poststructuralism).
Undergraduate Course: Critical theory
Critical theory is a contemporary philosophical approach to political, ethical, aesthetic, and epistemological issues. This course focuses on political issues concerning the nature of democracy, justice, political communication and practice. Critical theory has its roots in the Enlightenment period and in the philosophies of Kant, Hegel, and Marx. In the 20th-century it is advanced in the writings of the Frankfurt School of Social Criticism, and it becomes the philosophical source for contemporary movements like critical legal studies and critical theory of education. The German philosopher/sociologist Jürgen Habermas is the leading representative of critical theory today. By focusing our study on Habermas and the various debates in which he participates, we will be able to gain a good deal of insight into the nature of critical theory, its limitations and its promise. His debates include a famous interchange with Gadamer concerning interpretation and communication theory, a debate with several German historians over the proper regard for the past, an engagement with Derrida (and post-structuralism) concerning the nature of language and truth, and disputations with Foucault concerning power, with Lyotard (and postmodernism) about universality, and with Rawls on justice. Habermas also interfaces with feminist thinkers concerning the nature of social critique.
Spring 2012
Graduate lecture course: Philosophy of Mind
The course will cover major issues and positions in recent philosophy of mind after reviewing some of the basic concepts and discussions. Topics include behaviorism; reductive, non-reductive, and eliminative versions of materialism; functionalism; phenomenal consciousness; computational models; mental causation; action, free will, personal identity, and more recent embodied, enactive and extended models of the mind.
Fall 2011
PhD Seminar: Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity is a philosophical term (and is identified as such in various dictionaries). It is most closely associated with phenomenology and Continental philosophy, but it also finds its way into psychology and psychoanalysis and sometimes takes on technical meanings in those fields. Most generally, however, the concept of intersubjectivity concerns our relations with others and it is related to the problem of other minds (in analytic philosophy of mind), and to the concept of social cognition or theory of mind (in psychology and cognitive sciences).
Even within Continental philosophy the concept of intersubjectivity can be found going in various directions. In Husserl's phenomenology it is a central concept. There are also ongoing discussions of concepts like empathy and sympathy in this tradition - and these refer us back to some earlier theorists like Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill. We can find different approaches to intersubjectivity within the phenomenological tradition in Husserl, Scheler, and Heidegger, and (with frequent reference to Hegel) in hermeneutics, critical theory, the French existentialists, in Levinas and poststructuralist thinkers. We could trace out the implications of such analyses for our everyday understanding of others, for interpretation and the co-constitution of meaning, for ethics, politics, gender issues, and for specific topics such as violence and terrorism, and so forth. Studying the history of Continental thought on such problems could easily be a course (or two or three) on its own. In this seminar, however, we take only a quick glance at this history - enough of a glance to allow it to inform our considerations of what Husserl would call die Sache selbst - the actual experience of intersubjectivity and the issues/problems that surround this concept.
Our focus will be on the contemporary debates about how we understand others. These debates take us beyond phenomenology and Continental philosophy, but we need to go beyond these philosophical areas to see what role phenomenology, for example, may be able to play in addressing these debates, and what such debates might mean for things like hermeneutics and critical theory. This will require some interdisciplinary work - for example, we need to look not only at current discussions in philosophy of mind, but also at what developmental psychology and neuroscience can tell us about intersubjectivity. So what we will be doing is not pure phenomenology, or pure Continental philosophy, or pure philosophy, or pure anything. At the same time it's not something that we could do without reference to phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics, critical theory, and so forth.
Courses @ UCF
Courses in Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences
2008-11
- PHI 4804: Critical Theory
Critical theory is a contemporary philosophical approach to political, ethical, aesthetic, and epistemological issues. This course focuses on political issues concerning the nature of democracy, justice, political communication and practice. Critical theory has its roots in the Enlightenment period and in the philosophies of Kant, Hegel, and Marx. In the 20th-century it is advanced in the writings of the Frankfurt School of Social Criticism, and it becomes the philosophical source for contemporary movements like critical legal studies and critical theory of education. The German philosopher/sociologist Jürgen Habermas is the leading representative of critical theory today. By focusing our study on Habermas and the various debates in which he participates, we will be able to gain a good deal of insight into the nature of critical theory, its limitations and its promise. His debates include a famous interchange with Gadamer concerning interpretation and communication theory, a debate with several German historians over the proper regard for the past, an engagement with Derrida (and post-structuralism) concerning the nature of language and truth, and disputations with Foucault concerning power, with Lyotard (and postmodernism) about universality, and with Rawls on justice. Habermas also interfaces with feminist thinkers concerning the nature of social critique.
- PHI 4321: Philosophies of embodiment: Mind, Body, Self
This is a course designed to explore the way philosophers and others have thought about the human body and its relation to the soul, the mind, and the self. The body has been generally disparaged, ignored, or de-emphasized by a large number of traditional thinkers, in favor of the soul or mind. This is especially true of the Platonic and neo-Platonic traditions, but is also the case in much of modern philosophy. The mind-body problem, explicated quite clearly in Descartes, still haunts contemporary theory, not only in philosophy, but also in psychology, neuroscience, and the cognitive sciences in general. In this course we try to understand the philosophical background of these views in ancient philosophical texts, and follow their development through modern expositions, and especially in the works of phenomenologists like Merleau-Ponty. We will also explore in some detail the contemporary debates found in the recent philosophical and and cognitive science literature.
- PHI 5328: Graduate Seminar: Philosophies of Embodiment
This is a graduate seminar designed to explore the way philosophers and scientists have thought about the human body and its relation to cognition, the mind, and the self. We briefly review certain traditional conceptions of soul-body and mind-body problems. We look closely at phenomenological conceptions of the lived body and its relation to the body as studied by science. We examine different conceptions of embodiment as explicated by recent thinkers. We then focus on contemporary debates about how the body shapes perception and action and what role it plays in questions about intersubjectivity.