philosophy: Dr Julian Kiverstein

Cognitive scientists once shared a vision of mind as a kind of logic engine carrying out rule-based operations on symbolic representations. Today this view is rapidly being replaced by an alternative vision of brain, body and world as dynamically interacting equal partners sharing the load in our day-to-day problem-solving behaviour.

Philosophers of mind influenced by the writings of continental phenomenologists once attacked cognitive scientists for neglecting the body, and ignoring the context in which our actions ordinarily take place. The cognitive science of today no longer looks vulnerable to these criticisms. It is providing a picture of how the mind works that fits remarkably well with the descriptions of human existence to be found in phenomenology.

I pursue this confluence of ideas in my own research, developing phenomenologically informed answers to a number of questions in cognitive science, including time perception, conceptual thinking, empathy, free will, consciousness and the self.

I am a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Edinburgh University. I teach the MSc specialisation in Mind, Language and Embodied Cognition; also undergraduate classes on Hegel; Husserl; Heidegger; and Philosophy of Psychology.

From 2006 to 2009 I worked under Andy Clark as an AHRC-funded Post-Doctoral Research Fellow on the collaborative research project, Consciousness in Interaction (CONTACT).

I am a member of the VolkswagenStiftung-sponsored European Platform for the Life Sciences, Mind Sciences and Humanities. From 2007 to 2009 I was project leader of the Subjective Time group.

2010 will see the publication of Heidegger and Cognitive Science (Palgrave), edited with Mike Wheeler and Decomposing the Will (OUP), edited with Till Vierkant and Andy Clark.

You can read some of my publications and other papers by clicking on the publications button at the bottom of this page.

I am also book review editor for the Journal of Consciousness Studies. If you are interested in writing a review, or would like to discuss any aspect of my work, please feel free to e-mail me.

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Dr Julian Kiverstein Cognitive scientists once shared a vision of mind as a kind of logic engine carrying out rule-based operations on symbolic representations. Today this view is rapidly being replaced by an alternative vision of brain, body and world as dynamically interacting equal partners sharing the load in our day-to-day problem-solving behaviour. Philosophers of mind influenced by the writings of continental phenomenologists once attacked cognitive scientists for neglecting the body, and ignoring the context in which our actions ordinarily take place. The cognitive science of today no longer looks vulnerable to these criticisms. It is providing a picture of how the mind works that fits remarkably well with the descriptions of human existence to be found in phenomenology. I pursue this confluence of ideas in my own research, developing phenomenologically informed answers to a number of questions in cognitive science, including time perception, conceptual thinking, empathy, free will, consciousness and the self. I am a Teaching Fellow in the Department of Philosophy at Edinburgh University. I teach the MSc specialisation in Mind, Language and Embodied Cognition; also undergraduate classes on Hegel; Husserl; Heidegger; and Philosophy of Psychology. From 2006 to 2009 I worked under Andy Clark as an AHRC-funded Post-Doctoral Research Fellow on the collaborative research project, Consciousness in Interaction (CONTACT). I am a member of the VolkswagenStiftung-sponsored European Platform for the Life Sciences, Mind Sciences and Humanities. From 2007 to 2009 I was project leader of the Subjective Time group. 2010 will see the publication of Heidegger and Cognitive Science (Palgrave), edited with Mike Wheeler and Decomposing the Will (OUP), edited with Till Vierkant and Andy Clark. You can read some of my publications and other papers by clicking on the publications button at the bottom of this page. I am also book review editor for the Journal of Consciousness Studies. If you are interested in writing a review, or would like to discuss any aspect of my work, please feel free to e-mail me.