Eric Schwitzgebel
eschwitz at domain- ucr.edu
Professor of Philosophy (Ph.D., U.C. Berkeley, 1997)
Areas
of interest: philosophy of psychology, philosophy of mind, moral psychology,
classical Chinese philosophy,
epistemology, metaphilosophy, metaphysics,
science
fiction....
My CV:
My Blog:
Broad-Ranging Interviews on My Life and Work:
Books:
The Weirdness of the World
Comments and suggestions welcome! Draft version here .
A Theory of Jerks, and Other Philosophical Misadventures
MIT Press website for the book with buying options
here . For an abstract and access to chapter drafts from 2018, see
here
Perplexities of Consciousness ,
Here
at Amazon and
here at Barnes & Noble. For an abstract and access to chapter
drafts from 2009 see here .
Philosophical Studies symposium on the book: my
Precis , commentaries by
Uriah Kriegel , by
Declan Smithies , and by
Maja Spener , and my
reply .
Describing Inner
Experience? Proponent Meets Skeptic,
Here
at Amazon and
here at Barnes & Noble. For an abstract and access to chapter
drafts from 2006 see here .
Journal of Consciousness Studies devoted an issue to ten
commentaries on this book, with 100 pages of replies by Russ and me: See here .
Essays Sorted by Theme:
Belief:
"Dispositionalism, Yay! Representationalism, Boo! " (forthcoming) in J. Jong
and E. Schwitzgebel, The Nature of Belief (Oxford).
"The Nature of Belief From a Philosophical Perspective, With Theoretical and
Methodological Implications for Psychology and Cognitive Science
" (2022), Frontiers in Psychology https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.947664 .
"The
Pragmatic Metaphysics of Belief " (2021) in Cristina Borgoni, Dirk Kindermann, and Andrea Onofri, The Fragmented Mind (Oxford).
"The
Intrinsic Value of Self-Knowledge " (draft from 2015, but I'm thinking of picking it back up).
"A
Dispositional Approach to Attitudes: Thinking Outside of the Belief Box "
(2013), in Nikolaj Nottelmann (ed.), Belief (Palgrave).
(with Blake Myers-Schulz) "Knowing
That P Without Believing That P ", (2013), Nous, 47, 371-384.
"Mad
Belief? " (2012), NeuroEthics, 5, 13-17. [A commentary on Lisa
Bortolotti, Delusions
and Other Irrational Beliefs (2010).]
"Knowing
Your Own Beliefs " (2011), Canadian Journal of Philosophy, 35,
supplement 41-62.
"Acting
Contrary to Our Professed Beliefs, or the Gulf Between Occurrent Judgment and
Dispositional Belief " (2010), Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 91,
531-553.
"Belief "
(2006/2019), entry for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
"A Phenomenal,
Dispositional Account of Belief " (2002), Nous, 36, 249-275. [This
is my central essay on the topic.]
"Gradual
Belief Change in Children " (1999),
Human Development, 42, 283-296.
Our Poor Knowledge about Conscious Experience:
(with Sophie R. Nelson)
"Introspection in Group Minds, Disunities of Consciousness, and
Indiscrete Persons " (forthcoming) Journal of Consciousness Studies .
"Borderline Consciousness, When It's Neither
Determinately True nor Determinately False That Experience Is Present " (forthcoming), Philosophical Studies .
"Inflate and Explode " (in draft).
(with David Billy Udell) "Susan Schneider's Proposed Tests
for AI Consciousness: Promising but Flawed " (2021),
Journal of Consciousness Studies, 28 (5-6), 121-144.
"Is
There Something It's Like to Be a Garden Snail? " (2020), Philosophical Topics, 48 , 39-64.
"Phenomenal
Consciousness, Defined and Defended as Innocently as I Can Manage "
(2016), Journal of Consciousness Studies, 23, 11-12,
224-235. (This is a commentary on Keith Frankish, "Illusionism as a Theory of
Consciousness").
"If
Materialism Is True, the United States Is Probably Conscious " (2015), Philosophical Studies,
172, 1697-1721.
"Introspection,
What? " (2012) in Declan Smithies and Daniel Stoljar (eds.), Introspection
and Consciousness (Oxford: Oxford).
"Self-Ignorance "
(2012) in JeeLoo Liu and John Perry (eds.), Consciousness and the Self
(Cambridge: Cambridge).
"Introspection "
(2010), entry for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
"The
Unreliability of Naive Introspection " (2008), Philosophical
Review, 117, 245-273. [This is my central essay on the topic.]
"Descartes Inverted" (2007), from Describing
Inner Experience? Proponent Meets Skeptic (with Russell T. Hurlburt).
"Do
You Have Constant Tactile Experience of Your Feet in Your Shoes? Or Is
Experience Limited to What's in Attention? " (2007), Journal
of Consciousness Studies , 14, no. 3, 5-35.
"Do
Things Look Flat? " (2006), Philosophy &
Phenomenological Research , 72, 589-599.
"Introspective
Training Apprehensively Defended: Reflections on Titchener's Lab Manual " (2004), Journal of
Consciousness Studies , 11, no. 7-8, 58-76..
"Why Did
We Think We Dreamed in Black and White? " (2002), Studies in
History and Philosophy of Science, 33, 649-660.
"How Well Do
We Know Our Own Conscious Experience? The Case of Visual Imagery "
(2002), Journal of Consciousness Studies , 9, no. 5-6, 35-53.
(with Michael S. Gordon) "How
Well Do We Know Our Own Conscious Experience? The Case of Human Echolocation "
(2000), Philosophical Topics , 28, 235-246.
The Relationship Between Moral Reflection and Moral Behavior:
"Does the
Heart Revolt at Evil? The Case of Racial Atrocities "
(2022) Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture, 38, 5-13. [Also listed below under Chinese Philosophy]
(with Christopher McVey and Joshua May) "Engaging Charitable Giving: The Motivational Force of Narrative Versus
Philosophical Argument " (2022), Philosophical Psychology , https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2022.2088340 .
(with Brad Cokelet and Peter Singer) "Students Eat Less Meat After Studying Meat Ethics " (2021),
Review of Philosophy and Psychology , https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-021-00583-0 .
(with Brad Cokelet and Peter Singer) "Do Ethics Classes Influence Student Behavior?
Case Study: Teaching the Ethics of Eating Meat " (2020), Cognition, 203: 104397.
"Aiming
for Moral Mediocrity " (2019), Res Philosophica, 96, 347-368.
(with Jonathan Ellis) "Rationalization
in Moral and Philosophical Thought " (2017), Moral
Inferences , ed. J.-F. Bonnefon and B. Tremoliere (Psychology Press).
(with Joshua Rust) "The
Moral Behavior of Ethicists " (2016), Companion to
Experimental Philosophy , ed. J. Sytsma and W. Buckwalter
(Wiley-Blackwell).
(with Fiery Cushman) "Philosophers'
Biased Judgments Persist Despite Training, Expertise and Reflection "
(2015), Cognition, 141, 127-137.
"Cheeseburger
Ethics: Are Professional Ethicists Good People? " (2015), Aeon Magazine (July 14 featured article).
"The
Moral Behavior of Ethicists and the Role of the Philosopher "
(2014), Experimental Ethics , ed. H. Rusch, M. Uhl, and C.
Luetge (Palgrave).
(with Joshua Rust) "The
Moral Behavior of Ethicists and the Power of Reason " (2014),
Advances in Experimental Moral Psychology .
"A
Theory of Jerks " (2014), Aeon Magazine (June 4 featured article).
(with Joshua Rust) "The Moral Behavior of Ethics
Professors: Relationships Among Self-Reported Behavior, Expressed Normative
Attitude, and Directly Observed Behavior " (2014), Philosophical
Psychology, 27, 293-327.
"Do
Ethics Classes Influence Student Behavior? ", (2013 manuscript).
"Are
Ethicists Any More Likely to Pay Their Registration Fees at Professional
Meetings? " (2013), Economics & Philosophy, 29, 371-380.
(with Joshua Rust) "Ethicists'
and Non-Ethicists' Responsiveness to Student Emails: Relationships among
Expressed Normative Attitude, Self-Described Behavior, and Experimentally
Observed Behavior " (2013), Metaphilosophy, 44, 350-371.
(with Fiery Cushman) "Expertise
in Moral Reasoning? Order Effects on Moral Judgment in Professional
Philosophers and Non-Philosophers " (2012), Mind &
Language, 27, 135-153.
(with Joshua Rust, Linus Huang, Alan Moore, and Justin Coates), "Ethicists'
Courtesy at Philosophy Conferences " (2012), Philosophical
Psychology, 35, 331-340.
(with Joshua Rust) "Do
Ethicists and Political Philosophers Vote More Often Than Other Professors? "
(2010) Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 1, 189-199.
(with Joshua Rust) "The
Moral Behavior of Ethicists: Peer Opinion " (2009) Mind, 118, 1043-1059.
"Do
Ethicists Steal More Books? " (2009) Philosophical
Psychology, 22, 711-725.
"Human
Nature and Moral Education in Mencius, Xunzi, Hobbes, and Rousseau "
(2007) History of Philosophy Quarterly, 24, 147-168.
Metaphilosophy, Metaphysics, Skepticism, and Cosmology:
"Let's Hope We're Not Living in a Simulation " (in draft),
[commentary on David Chalmers' Reality+ ].
"Repetition and Value in an Infinite Universe " (forthcoming), in S. Hetherington,
ed., Extreme Philosophy . Routledge.
"Kant
Meets Cyberpunk " (2019), Disputatio, 55 , 411-435 [for a special issue on David Chalmers' work
on virtual reality. [Chalmers' reply to commenters .]
"1%
Skepticism " (2017), Nous, 51, 271-290.
"Phenomenal
Consciousness, Defined and Defended as Innocently as I Can Manage "
(2016), Journal
of Consciousness Studies, 23, 11-12, 224-235. (This is a
commentary on Keith Frankish, "Illusionism as a Theory of
Consciousness"). [Also listed under "Our Poor Knowledge of Our Own
Conscious Experience" above]
(with Alan T. Moore) "Experimental
Evidence for the Existence of an External World " (2015) Journal
of the American Philosophical Association, 1, 564-582..
"If
Materialism Is True, the United States Is Probably Conscious " (2015), Philosophical Studies,
172, 1697-1721.
"The
Crazyist Metaphysics of Mind " (2014), Australasian Journal of
Philosophy , 92, 665-682.
"The
Problem of Known Illusion and the Resemblance of Experience to Reality "
(2014), Philosophy of Science, 81, 954-960.
(with Alison Gopnik) "Whose
Concepts Are They, Anyway? The Role of Philosophical Intuition in
Empirical Psychology " (1998), in M.R. DePaul and W. Ramsey (eds.),
Rethinking
Intuition (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield).
"Zhuangzi's Attitude
Toward Language and His Skepticism " (1996), in P. Kjellberg and P.J.
Ivanhoe (eds.),
Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the
Zhuangzi (SUNY Press).
Chinese Philosophy:
"Does the
Heart Revolt at Evil? The Case of Racial Atrocities "
(2022) Journal of Confucian Philosophy and Culture, 38, 5-13. [Also listed above under The Relationship Between Moral Reflection and Moral Behavior]
"The
Unskilled Zhuangzi: Big and Useless and Not So Good at Catching Rats ",
(2019) in K. Lai and W. W. Chiu, eds., Skill and Mastery. London:
Roman and Littlefield.
"Death,
Self, and Oneness in the Incomprehensible Zhuangzi " (2018) in P.J. Ivanhoe, O. Flanagan, R. Harrison, H.
Sarkissian, and E. Schwitzgebel, eds., Oneness
in Philosophy, Religion, and Psychology (Columbia University Press).
"Human
Nature and Moral Development in Mencius, Xunzi, Hobbes, and Rousseau "
(2007) History of Philosophy Quarterly, 24, 147-168. [Also
listed under "The Relationship Between Moral Reflection and Moral
Behavior" above.]
"Why
Don't We Know Our Chinese Philosophy? " (2001), APA Newsletter on the
Status of Asian & Asian-American Philosophers & Philosophies, 1,
26-27.
"Zhuangzi's Attitude
Toward Language and His Skepticism " (1996), in P. Kjellberg and P.J.
Ivanhoe (eds.),
Essays on Skepticism, Relativism, and Ethics in the
Zhuangzi (SUNY Press). [Also listed under "Metaphilosophy"
above.]
Philosophy of Technology:
(with Olaf Witkowski), "The Ethics of Life as It Could Be: Do We Have Obligations
to Artificial Life? " (invited), Artificial Life .
"AI Systems Must Not Confuse Users about Their Sentience or Moral Status " (2023),
Patterns, 4, article 100818.
(with David Schwitzgebel and Anna Strasser), "Creating a
Large Language Model of a Philosopher " (2023), Mind & Language [online article mila.12466, print forthcoming].
"The Full Rights Dilemma for A.I. Systems of
Debatable Personhood " (2023), Robonomics, 4 (article 23).
(with Olaf Witkowski), "Ethics of Artificial Life: The Moral Status of Life as It Could Be "
(2022), Artificial Life Conference Proceedings: ALIFE 2022 (Paper No. 48).
(with Mara Garza) "Designing
AI with Rights, Consciousness, Self-Respect, and Freedom " (2020), in S. Matthew Liao, ed., The Ethics of Artificial Intelligence (Oxford).
(with Mara Garza) "A
Defense of the Rights of Artificial Intelligences " (2015), Midwest
Studies in Philosophy, 39, 98-119.
Philosophy of Well-Being:
(with Seth Margolis, Daniel J. Ozer, Ramona Martinez, and Sonja Lyubomirsky) "The
Riverside Eudaimonia Scale and the Rich & Sexy Well-Being Scale " (2022), International Journal of Well-Being, 12 (1), 1-20,
https://doi.org/10.5502/ijw.v12i1.1575 .
(with Seth Margolis, Daniel J. Ozer, and Sonja Lyubomirsky), "Empirical Relationships Among Five Types of Well-Being " (2021), in M.T. Lee, L.D. Kubzansky, and
T.J. VanderWeele, eds., Measuring Well-Being (Oxford).
(with Seth Margolis, Daniel J. Ozer, and Sonja Lyubomirsky) "A
New Measure of Life Satisfaction: The Riverside Life Satisfaction Scale "
(2019), Journal of Personality Assessment, 101, 621-630.
Demographics and Sociology of Philosophy:
(with Liam Kofi Bright, Carolyn Dicey Jennings, Morgan Thompson, and Eric Winsberg), "The Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Diversity of
Philosophy Students and Faculty in the United States: Recent Data from Several Sources " (2021), The Philosophers' Magazine, 93 , 71-90.
(with Linus Ta-Lun Huang, Andrew Jenkins, and Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera)
"The
Insularity of Anglophone Philosophy: Quantitative Analyses "
(2018), Philosophical Papers, 47, 21-48.
(with Carolyn Dicey Jennings) "Women
in Philosophy: Quantitative Analyses of Specialization, Prevalence,
Visibility, and Generational Change " (2017), Public
Affairs Quarterly 31, 83-105.
Foundational Issues in Cognitive Development:
(with Victoria McGeer) "Disorder
in the Representational Warehouse " (2006), Child Development, 77 ,
1557-1562. [This is a commentary on an essay by Jacqueline Woolley, but it
is written so
as to be comprehensible without knowledge of Woolley's paper.]
"Gradual
Belief Change in Children " (1999),
Human Development, 42, 283-296. [Also listed under
"Belief" above.]
"A Difficulty
for Simulation Theory Due to the Close Connection of Pretense and Action
in Early Childhood " (2000, not for print publication)
"Children's
Theories and the Drive to Explain " (1999), Science & Education,
8, 457-488.
"Representation
and Desire: A Philosophical Error with Consequences for Theory-of-Mind
Research " (1999), Philosophical Psychology, 12, 157-180.
"Difficulties
in Davidson's Arguments Against Belief Without Language " (1997, not for
print publication)
Other:
(with David Schwitzgebel) "Uncle Iroh, from Fool to Sage -- or Sage All Along?" (2023),
in J. De Smedt, H. De Cruz, W. Irvin, and A. Ehasz, eds., Avatar: The Last Airbender and Philosophy, Blackwell.
(with Amelie Green) "Dehumanizing the Cognitively Disabled:
Commentary on David Livingstone Smith's Making Monsters" (forthcoming), Analysis .
(with Alan Tonnies Moore) "The
Experience of Reading " (2018), Consciousness and
Cognition, 62, 57-68.
(with Josh Dever) "The
Two Envelope Paradox and Using
Variables Within the Expectation Formula " (2008), Sorites, 20,
135-140 -- also see
our Simple
Explanation of the Two Envelope Paradox .
Dissertation:
Philosophical Fiction:
"Larva Pupa Imago" (2023), Clarkesworld , #197.
"Let Everyone Sparkle: Psychotechnology in the Year 2067" (2022), Psyche , 12 Apr 2022.
"Passion of the Sun Probe" (2020), AcademFic, 1 , 7-11.
"Gaze of Robot, Gaze of Bird" (2019), Clarkesworld, issue #141.
translated into Chinese for Science Fiction World, Aug. 2020, p. 58-68. "Little
/^^^\&- " (2017), Clarkesworld, issue #132.
"THE TURING
MACHINES OF BABEL " (2017), Apex Magazine, issue #98.
"Fish
Dance " (2016), Clarkesworld , issue #118.
"The
Dauphin's Metaphysics " (2015), Unlikely Story , issue
#12. (Locus recommended by Lois Tilton.)
translated into Hungarian: Galakika , issue 316 (2016).
translated in Chinese by Fan Yilun, Science
Fiction World, issue 367 (2016).
"Momentary
Sage " (2015), The Dark , issue #8, 38-43.
"Out
of the Jar " (2015), Magazine of Fantasy & Science
Fiction, 128, 118-128.
"Philosophical
Science Fiction / Speculative Fiction: Recommendations from 41 Philosophers "
(2015)
abbreviated version as "Recommended Viewing" (2015), The
Philosophers' Magazine , issue #71, 101-106. abbreviated version in Susan Schneider, ed., Science
Fiction and Philosophy, 2nd ed. (2016, Wiley). "The
Tyrant's Headache " (2015), Sci Phi Journal , issue #3, 78-83.
"What
Kelp Remembers " (2014), Weird Tales , Flashes of Weirdness
(April 14).
(with R. Scott Bakker) "Reinstalling Eden "
(2013), Nature, 503 , 562.
podcast in StarShipSofa (2015), #392.
reprint in Susan Schneider, ed., Science
Fiction and Philosophy, 2nd ed. (2016, Wiley), 19-21.
Annual
ranking of science fiction and fantasy magazines , based on awards
nominations and appearance on prominent "best of" lists.
Selected Op-Eds:
"The COVID Jerk "
-- The Atlantic, Feb 3, 2022.
"The Jerks of Academe "
-- Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan 31, 2020.
"Dreidel:
A Seemingly Dumb Game That Contains the Moral World in Miniature "
-- Los Angeles Times, Dec 12, 2017.
"Does
It Matter If the Passover Story Is Literally True? " -- Los Angeles
Times, Apr. 9, 2017.
"Like
the Oscars, #PhilosophySoWhite " (with Myisha Cherry) -- Los
Angeles Times , Mar. 6, 2016.
"Will
Your Driverless Car Kill You So That Others May Live? " -- Los
Angeles Times , Dec. 6, 2015.
"We
Have Greater Moral Obligations to Robots Than to Humans " -- Aeon
Opinions , Nov. 12, 2015.
"What's
Missing in College Philosophy Classes? Chinese Philosophers " -- Los
Angeles Times , Sep. 13, 2015.
"Philosophy
Via Facebook? Why Not? " -- Los Angeles Times , Jul. 17, 2015.
Miscellaneous Thoughts:
Recent Courses:
Lower Division:
Evil (Fall 2022, Spring 2022, Fall 2019, Fall 2018, Fall 2017, Fall 2015)
Upper Division:
Philosophy of Mind (Fall 2019, Winter 2017)
Classical Chinese Philosophy (Winter 2020, Winter 2019)
Graduate Seminars:
The Moral Measurement Problem (Winter 2023)
The Metaphysics of Mind (Winter 2022)
The Sparsity or Abundance of Consciousness in the Universe and in Our Minds (Fall 2018)
Red-Hot Philosophy of Mind (Winter 2018)
Monster Rights, Robot Rights, Alien Rights (Spring 2016)
Dissertations completed under my direction:
Deborah Nelson (2022): How Relative Economic Advantage Affects Agential Reasoning.
Jeremy Pober (2022): Reduce Them All: A Theory of Psychophysical Reduction of All Mental Phenomena.
Chris McVey (2020): The Moral Importance of Narrative: A Philosophical Analysis of Narrative Transport.
Kyle Thompson (2019): Ethics, X-Phi, and the Expanded Metholodological Toolbox: How the Think Aloud Method and Interview Reveal People's Judgments on Issues in Ethics and Beyond.
Alan T. Moore (2016): The Experience of Reading.
Nick Baiamonte (2008): On The Possibility of Being Virtuous in a Wicked
World: The Nature, Character, and Power of Genuine
Moral Reflection.
Joshua Rust (2005): John Searle's Ideal Type: Max Weber and the Construction
of Social Reality.Ted M. Preston (2005): Bridging the Gap Between Normative Beliefs and
Actions.
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