contact: andrew.rubner@gmail.com 

About: 

I am currently a Bersoff Faculty Fellow at NYU working in the philosophy of mind and the philosophy of cognitive science, but I also have teaching and research interests in the philosophy of biology, general philosophy of science and the philosophy of language. My current work focuses on the nature of representational notions in cognitive science (especially in perception science), and the nature of explanation in cognitive science. Like many others, my more general research program is guided by thinking about how biology, and the philosophy thereof, can help us understand the mind and the enterprise of cognitive science. 

Published Journal Articles: 

1. Mechanistic Explanations and Teleological Functions. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. Forthcoming. [link]

2. Theories of Perceptual Content and Cases of Reliable Spatial Misperception. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. 2023. [link]

3. Normal-Proper Functions in the Philosophy of Mind. Philosophy Compass. 2022.  [link]

Published Commentaries and Abstracts: 

1. Peacocke on the Structure of Content and Correctness Conditions. In Empirical Reason and Sensory Experience. Ori Beck and Milo Vultic, Eds. 2024.

2. A Two-Tiered Model of the Perception of Aspect Ratio in Binocularly Viewed Surfaces. Journal of Vision. 2024.

Dissertation:  

My dissertation is primarily concerned with providing a scientifically informed theory of perceptual content -- a theory which purports to explain why a perceptual state represents one property rather than another.  This sometimes leads me to work on topics more squarely in the philosophy of biology. For example, the first chapter of my dissertation provides an alternative to both etiological and pragmatic theories of teleological function. This is helpful for those interested in pursuing a teleological theory of perceptual content but who also find the etiological aspect of such theories unappealing, such as myself.  Chapters: 

1. Normal-proper Functions in the Philosophy of Mind. 

2. Mechanistic Explanations and Teleological Functions.

3. An Ahistorical Theory of Perceptual Content. 

4.  Theories of Perceptual Content and Cases of Reliable Spatial Misperception.

Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science (RUCCS) certificate project: 

My RUCCS project primarily consists in providing a Bayesian model of the misperception of aspect ratio of two-dimensional surfaces in light of recent experiments that have called into question the possibility of any such model. Click here for our VSS poster! 

Other papers (email me for drafts):

• A paper providing a general solution to the indeterminacy issue for teleological theories of perceptual content.

• A paper on the structure of visuo-perceptual objects (w/ Alfredo Vernazzani)

• A paper on the functions of the visual system

• A paper arguing that historical theories of representational content in cognitive science are in tension with explanations in cognitive science that appeal to representations. 

• A paper on modus tollens 

• A paper on assimilating cases that motivate conceptual engineering to cases of vagueness 

Teaching:

• Introduction to Cognitive Science (TA), 5 semesters. 

• Undergraduate Seminar in Cognitive Science (TA), 1 semester.

• Formal Reasoning and Decision Making (primary instructor), 2 semesters. 

• Bioethics (primary instructor), 1 semester. 

*All courses taught at Rutgers University - New Brunswick 

Public Philosophy:

You can listen to me talk about art and cognition with the philosopher Sascha Benjamin Fink on Dena Shottenkirk's public philosophy podcast talkPOPc here. You can read more about talkPOPc here.