Andrew RichmondPostdoctoral Associate
I received my PhD from Columbia University, where I worked on computation and representation in cognitive science. My current projects investigate the various modes of explanation in cognitive science, especially neuroscience. I try to blend philosophical, scientific, and historical approaches to these issues. And my work on those issues leads me to a more general argument for methodological nominalism in the philosophy of cognitive science: the idea that, in trying to understand scientific practice, it is rarely useful to think about the properties that technical concepts (representation, function, etc.) might refer to; instead, we should investigate the concepts themselves and their role in science's explanatory economy — what they help scientists to do, and how. I also have projects on addiction science and the philosophy of mind more broadly. Philosophy of representation for neuroscientists (Neuromatch 2021):Personal website with papers in progress, syllabi, etc: |