Friday, February 15, 2019
Written by: Office of Strategic Communication

The American Philosophical Association announced that Carrie Figdor, associate professor of philosophy who also holds appointments in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the interdisciplinary graduate program in neuroscience at the University of Iowa, has been awarded the 2019-2020 Edinburgh Fellowship.

As an Edinburgh Fellow, Figdor will have a private office in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh, will be a member of the institute's research community, and will have full borrowing rights at Edinburgh University Library.

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Carrie Figdor

"Carrie Figdor's research on mindreading addresses some of the most fundamental questions about human minds and human interactio," says Sara Bernstein, associate professor of philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and chair of the selection committee." Figdor's project, a general theory of mindreading in terms of speech acts, is a perfect fit for the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. The Edinburgh Fellowship will help Figdor continue her ongoing fruitful interaction with philosophers and other researchers at the University of Edinburgh."

Figdor earned her Ph.D. at City University of New York Graduate Center in 2005, and her primary research areas are philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and neuroscience, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, and metaphysics, plus neuroethics and media ethics. Her current research focuses on the use of psychological terms throughout biology, a topic at the intersection of philosophy language, mind, and science. Figdor also is working on projects in mechanistic explanation, the relation between psychology and moral status, and the epistemology of journalism.

Founded in 1900, the American Philosophical Association promotes the discipline and profession of philosophy, both within the academy and in the public arena. The APA supports the professional development of philosophers at all levels and works to foster greater understanding and appreciation of the value of philosophical inquiry.