Joshua J. Alexander

I am Associate Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Siena College, where I am also Director of the Cognitive Science program. My work is at the intersection of epistemology and cognitive science, and focuses primarily on philosophical cognition, or how ours minds work when we think about philosophical issues. I have worked on the instability of philosophical intuition and its methodological consequences, the role that epistemic egocentrism plays in folk knowledge attribution, the role that case structural features and framing effects play in the epistemology of disagreement, and the role that cognitive dispositions and situational factors play in shaping how we respond to cognitive diversity. I also have broad interests in cognitive neuroscience, especially what lessons work at the intersection of ethics and cognitive neuroscience might have for the cognitive neuroscience of epistemology. I published my first book, Experimental Philosophy: An Introduction, in the summer of 2012, and am currently working on a second book on the philosophy and cognitive science of disagreement, funded by a research grant from the Templeton Foundation Science of Intellectual Humility Project.

My Professional Experience

Articles & Book Reviews

• A Short Course in Experimental Philosophy
  Teaching Philosophy
  2014
• Putting the Trolley in Order: Experimental Philosophy and the Loop Case
  Philosophical Psychology
  2012
• Restrictionism & Reflection: Challenge Deflected, or Simply Redirected?
  The Monist
  2012
• Accentuate the Negative
  Review of Philosophy and Psychology
  2010
• Are Philosophers Expert Intuiters?
  Philosophical Psychology
  2010
• Competence: What's In? What's Out? Who Knows?
  Behavioral and Brain Sciences
  2010
• Is Experimental Philosophy Philosophically Significant?
  Philosophical Psychology
  2010
• The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions: Running Hot and Cold on Truetemp
  Philosophy and Phenomenological Research
  2008
• Analytic Epistemology and Experimental Philosophy
  Philosophy Compass
  2007
• Review of Marc Lange, Natural Laws in Scientific Practice
  Philosophy of Science
  2004

Awards & Distinctions

• Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development  Summer Curriculum Diversification Fellowship, Siena College, Summer 2010
  Category: Other
  Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development, 2010
• Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development - Summer Research Fellowship, Siena College, Summer 2009.
  Category: Other
  Committee on Teaching and Faculty Development, 2009
• Louise B. McNutt Graduate School Dissertation Fellowship, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, Academic Year 2007-2008.
  Category: Other
  Indiana University, 2008
• Nelson Travel Grant, Department of Philosophy, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2007.
  Category: Other
  Indiana University, 2007
• Graduate Student Travel Grant, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, 2006.
  Category: Other
  Indiana University, 2006
• Nelson Summer Research Fellowship, Summer 2005.
  Category: Other
  Nelson Summer Research Fellowship, 2005
• Graduate School Research Fellowship, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Academic Year 1998-1999.
  Category: Other
  University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 1999
• Francis X. Boden Memorial Award (awarded each year to graduating philosophy major on the basis of highest academic achievement in social philosophy), Department of Philosophy, Marquette University, 1996.
  Category: Other
  Marquette University, 1996

Books & Book Chapters

• Advances in Experimental Epistemology
  Continuum Press
  2014
• Current Controversies in Experimental Philosophy
  Blackwell Press
  2014
• Die Experimentelle Philosophie in der Diskussion
  Suhrkamp Verlag
  2014
• Experimental Philosophy Volume 2
  Oxford University Press
  2014
• Intuitions
  Oxford University Press
  2014
• Experimental Philosophy and Its Critics
  Routledge Press
  2012
• Experimental Philosophy and Its Critics
  Routledge Press
  2012
• Experimental Philosophy: An Introduction
  Polity Press
  2012

Presentations

• Case Structure and the Epistemology of Disagreement
  2015
  Intellectual Humility: Its Nature, Value, and Implications, Fuller Theological Seminary, California
• Case Structure and the Epistemology of Disagreement
  2015
  Science of Intellectual Humility Capstone Conference, Avalon, Catalina Island, California
• Infallibilism, Skepticism, and Cultural Differences
  2015
  American Philosophical Association Central Division, St. Louis, Missouri
• Pernicious Stipulation
  2015
  Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Duke University, North Carolina
• Case Structure and the Epistemology of Disagreement
  2014
  Buffalo X-Phi Conference, University At Buffalo, New York
• Case Structure and the Epistemology of Disagreement
  2014
  Center for Philosophy of Science Lunchtime Colloquium, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Infallibilism, Skepticism, and Cultural Differences
  2014
  Society for Philosophy and Psychology, University of British Columbia, Canada-British Columbia
• Salience and Epistemic Egocentrism: An Empirical Study
  2014
  Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Charleston, South Carolina
• Salience and Epistemic Egocentrism: An Empirical Study
  2013
  Buffalo X-Phi Conference, University At Buffalo, New York
• Salience and Epistemic Egocentrism: An Empirical Study
  2013
  Issues in Cognitive Science: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, RPI, New York
• Salience and Epistemic Egocentrism: An Empirical Study
  2013
  Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Brown University, Rhode Island
• The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
  2011
  American Philosophical Organization, Pacific Division Meeting, San Diego, California
• The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
  2011
  Marist College Departmental Colloquium, Poughkeepsie, New York
• The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
  2011
  Metro Experimental Research Group, CUNY/NYU, New York
• The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
  2011
  Siena College Philosophy Department Colloquium, Loudonville, New York
• The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
  2011
  Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada-Quebec
• The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
  2011
  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Departmental Colloquium, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
• The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
  2011
  York University Departmental Colloquium, York University, Canada
• Putting the Trolley in Order: Experimental Philosophy and the Loop Case
  2010
  Metro Experimental Research Group, NYU, New York
• Putting the Trolley in Order: Experimental Philosophy and the Loop Case
  2010
  Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Lewis and Clark College, Oregon
• The Challenge of Sticking with Intuitions Through Thick and Thin
  2010
  Florida International University Departmental Colloquium, Miami, Florida
• Trusting Intuitions and the Restrictionist Challenge
  2008
  Grand Valley State University Departmental Colloquium, Allendale, Michigan
• Trusting Intuitions and the Restrictionist Challenge
  2008
  Siena College Departmental Colloquium, Loudonville, New York
• Unstable Intuitions and Need For Cognition
  2008
  The Society for Philosophy and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania
• Commentary on Chris Tucker's 'A Dilemma for Epistemology the Wright Way'
  2007
  Indiana Philosophical Assoc., Bloomington, Indiana
• Commentary on S. Matthew Liao's 'A Defense of Intuitions'
  2007
  American Philosophical Organization, Pacific Division Meeting, San Francisco, California
• The Dark Heart of Philosophical Intuitions
  2007
  Indiana University Department of Philosophy, Bloomington, Indiana
• The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions
  2006
  Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Charleston, South Carolina
• The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions
  2006
  The Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri
• The Instability of Philosophical Intuitions
  2006
  University Conference on Experimental Epistemology, Bloomington, Indiana
• Modus Ponens and Problems with Material Implication
  2003
  Indiana University Logic Group, Bloomington, Indiana
• Did Hempel Take Physical Probability Seriously After All?
  2002
  Indiana University Department of Philosophy, Bloomington, Indiana
• On Williamson's Epistemic Treatment of Vagueness
  2002
  Grand Valley State University Department of Philosophy, Grand Rapids, Michigan
• Rational Belief and Empirically Equivalent Rival Hypotheses
  2001
  Grand Valley State University Department of Philosophy, Grand Rapids, Michigan