savag001@umn.edu

751 Heller
612-625-3808

My principal areas are epistemology, philosophy of cognitive science, and general philosophy of science. I teach courses in these areas, and occasionally in the history of philosophy, especially philosophies strongly affected by modern science, such as those of Descartes, Locke, Leibniz, and Kant. I also teach a core course for the University minor in cognitive science. I am a member and former director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science and an affiliate of the Center for Cognitive Science.

My teaching and associated research are currently focussed on two areas. The first is the mind-body problem, the problem of whether conscious mental phenomena are identical with neural phenomena (the identity theory) or merely correlated with such phenomena (dualism), and its relevance to the science of psychology. The second area is animal cognition and communication, in which the central question is whether animals such as chimpanzees can think and use language in approximately the way humans do.

A long-term focus of my research is perception as a source of empirical knowledge, to which I bring a knowledge of psychological theories, such as those of Gibson, Gregory, and Marr, and familiarity with computer vision and other developments in artificial intelligence. I agree with Quine and others that epistemology should be naturalized, or made scientific, though in a sense that does not eliminate philosophical epistemology.

Another long-term interest is measurement and its use in applying numerical scientific theories to the empirical world. Central issues are what sorts of measurement (scales) are required for the application of theories and whether science without numbers is possible.

My strongest influences have been Russell, Wittgenstein, and the logical empiricists. But I regard the neo-Kantian reaction to logical empiricism as constructive, and I am exploring ways of "naturalizing" metaphysics by means of physical and psychological science.

Selected Publications

"A Pluralist Solution to the Mind-Body Problem" (2004). To appear in Scientific Pluralism, ed. Giere, Kellert, and Longino. University of Minnesota Press.

"Carnap's Aufbau Rehabilitated" (2003). In Language, Truth, and Knowledge, ed. Bonk. Kluwer Academic Publishers.

"In Defense of Color Psychophysicalism" (2001). Consciousness and Cognition 10, 125-132.

"Epistemological Advantages of a Cognitivist Analysis of Sensation and Perception." In Science, Mind and Psychology. University Press of America, 1991.

"Sense-Data in Russell's Theories of Knowledge." In Rereading Russell, ed. W. Savage. University of Minnesota Press, 1989.

The Measurement of Sensation (1970). University of Minnesota Press.