Alexander David Morgan

RESEARCH INTERESTS

Cognitive architecture; cognitive development; cognitive linguistics; consciousness; evolutionary psychology; mental representation; metaphysics of mind; naturalistic philosophy of science; philosophical methodology; social cognition; the nature of information & computation.

EDUCATION

• 2005-Present: Ph.D. (Philosophy), Rutgers University, New Jersey, U.S.A.
• 2003-2004: B.A. Hons, 1st class (Philosophy), University of Auckland, N.Z.
• 2000-2003: B.A. (Philosophy) & B.Sc. (Logic & Computation), University of Auckland, N.Z.

SELECTED GRANTS & AWARDS

• 2006: Travel Award to 'Theoretical Neuroscience & Complex Systems' Summer School, Frankfurt Institute of Advanced Studies.
• 2005: Rutgers Graduate Fellowship, Rutgers University.
• 2004: Travel Awards to ISHPSSB Workshop, University of Auckland & University of California, Davis.
• 2003: Access Award, University of Auckland.
• 2003: Faculty of Science Summer Research Scholarship, University of Auckland.
• 2002: Faculty of Science Summer Research Scholarship, University of Auckland.

PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Affiliations:

• American Philosophical Association.
• Society for Philosophy and Psychology.
• International Society for the History, Philosophy & Social Studies of Biology.

Activities and Experience:

• Manuscript reviewer for 'British Journal of Philosophy of Science' (2008).
• Manuscript reviewer for 'Biology and Philosophy' (2008).
• Co-organizer of the 8th Annual Rutgers-Princeton Graduate Philosophy Conference (2006).
• Participated in the 'Theoretical Neuroscience & Complex Systems' Summer School, Frankfurt Institute of Advanced Studies and Max-Planck Insitute for Brain Research (2006).
• Manuscript reviewer for 'Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences' (2004).
• Participated in the ISHPSSB Future Directions in the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology Graduate Workshop, University of San Francisco (2004).

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

• Research assistant to Dr. Gavin Hunt, University of Auckland, studying tool-use behaviour in New Caledonian crows. Grand Terre and Maré, New Caledonia (2005).
• Summer research project analysing various measures of phase synchronisation in EEG data. Department of Physics and the Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Auckland (2003-4).
• Summer research project investigating dichotic pitch perception in humans using high-density EEG. Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Auckland (2002-3).

WRITING & PRESENTATIONS

Writing in Progress:

• ‘On Swampman and the Proper Interpretation of Teleosemantics’, Biology and Philosophy (provisionally accepted).
• ‘Consciousness, Computation, and Reversibility: Bringsjord & Zenzen’s Missing Link’, Synthese (provisionally accepted).

Conference Presentations:

• ‘On Swampman and the Proper Interpretation of Teleosemantics.’ Presented at the Australasian Association of Philosophy (New Zealand Branch) Conference (November 2004).
• ‘The Language of Life: Toward a Teleosemantic Explication of “Genetic Information”’. Presented at the Australasian Association of Philosophy (New Zealand Branch) Conference (December 2003).
• ‘The Language of Life: Toward a Teleosemantic Explication of “Genetic Information”’. Presented at the University of Auckland Postgraduate Philosophy Conference (September 2003).

TEACHING

Rutgers University, 2007-2008

• Fall 2008: PHIL 329, Minds and Machines (Primary Instructor)
• Summer 2008: PHIL 201, Introduction to Symbolic Logic (Primary Instructor)
• Spring 2008: PHIL 104, Introduction to Philosophy (Teaching Assistant for Prof. Martin Bunzl)
• Fall 2007: PHIL 201, Introduction to Symbolic Logic (Primary Instructor)
• Summer 2007: PHIL 201, Introduction to Symbolic Logic (Primary Instructor)

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