Lawrence Shapiro is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin–Madison

University of Wisconsin–Madison

The University of Wisconsin–Madison is a public research university located in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. Founded in 1848, UW–Madison is the flagship campus of the University of Wisconsin System. It became a land-grant institution in 1866...

 in the United States. His research focuses in the philosophy of psychology

Philosophy of psychology

Philosophy of psychology refers to issues at the theoretical foundations of modern psychology. Some of these issues are epistemological concerns about the methodology of psychological investigation...

. He also works in both the philosophy of mind

Philosophy of mind

Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental properties, consciousness and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain. The mind-body problem, i.e...

, and philosophy of biology

Philosophy of biology

The philosophy of biology is a subfield of philosophy of science, which deals with epistemological, metaphysical, and ethical issues in the biological and biomedical sciences...

.

Background

Shapiro graduated summa cum laude from Dickinson College

Dickinson College

Dickinson College is a private, residential liberal arts college in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Originally established as a Grammar School in 1773, Dickinson was chartered September 9, 1783, five days after the signing of the Treaty of Paris, making it the first college to be founded in the newly...

 in 1984, earning entry into the Phi Beta Kappa Society

Phi Beta Kappa Society

The Phi Beta Kappa Society is an academic honor society. Its mission is to "celebrate and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences"; and induct "the most outstanding students of arts and sciences at America’s leading colleges and universities." Founded at The College of William and...

. He received his Ph.D

Doctor of Philosophy

Doctor of Philosophy, abbreviated as Ph.D., PhD, D.Phil., or DPhil , in English-speaking countries, is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities...

 in philosophy from the University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

 in 1992. Shapiro married Athena Skaleris, a lawyer and together they moved to Madison, Wisconsin. They have two daughters, Sophia and Thalia. Shapiro also beat Steven Nadler

Steven Nadler

Steven Nadler is the William H. Hay II Professor of Philosophy, and Max and Frieda Weinstein-Bascom Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.Nadler received his PhD from Columbia University in 1986...

 in the 2006 Madison Ironman competition.

He has published a number of articles in top-tier philosophy journals. He is also the author of The Mind Incarnate (MIT:2004), which challenges the widespread assumption that mental states can be 'realized' in a variety of different substances. Shapiro's argument has important consequences for a range of philosophical positions about the mind, including the functionalist analysis of mental states. He has also co-edited, with Brie Gertler

Brie Gertler

Brie Gertler is a philosopher who works primarily on problems in the philosophy of mind. A mind-body dualist, she is presently a teaching associate professor at the University of Virginia. Her special interests include introspection, consciousness and mental content.Among Gertler's other fields...

, Arguing About the Mind, a book of readings in the philosophy of mind. He is currently working on a book about embodied cognition

Embodied cognition

Philosophers, psychologists, cognitive scientists and artificial intelligence researchers who study embodied cognition and the embodied mind believe that the nature of the human mind is largely determined by the form of the human body. They argue that all aspects of cognition, such as ideas,...

.

Publications

• "Understanding the Dimensions of Realization," with Thomas Polger, The Journal of Philosophy 105: 213-222, 2008.
• “Making Sense of Mirror Neurons,” forthcoming in Synthese.
• “Lessons from Causal Exclusion,” forthcoming in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research.
• “How to Test for Multiple Realization,” forthcoming in Philosophy of Science.
• “Multiple Realizability, Seriously,” forthcoming in J. Yoo and B. McLauphlin (eds.) tba.
• “Evolutionary Psychology,” in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
• “Functionalism and the Boundaries of the Mind,” Cognitive Systems Research 9: 5-14, 2008.
• “Symbolism, Embodied Cognition, and the Broader Debate,” in M. de Vega, A. Glenberg & A. Graesser (eds) Symbols and Embodiment: Debates on Meaning and Cognition (Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 57-74, 2008).
• “The Embodied Research Program,” in the Philosophy Compass.
• “Epiphenomenalism – The Do's and Don'ts,” with Elliott Sober, in G. Wolters and P. Machamer (eds.), Thinking about Causes: From Greek Philosophy to Modern Physics (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2007).
• “Reductionism, Embodiment, and the Generality of Psychology,” in H. Looren de Jong & M. Schouten (eds.), The Matter of the Mind (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, pp. 101-120, 2006).
• “Can Psychology be a Unified Science?” in Philosophy of Science 72: 953-963, 2005.
• “Adapted Minds,” in J. McIntosh (ed.), Naturalism, Evolution, and Intentionality: Canadian Journal of Philosophy Supplementary vol. 27 (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2001: 85- 101).
• “Mind the Adaptation,” in D. Walsh (ed.), Naturalism, Evolution, and Mind (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001: 23-41).
• “Multiple Realizations,” The Journal of Philosophy, vol. 97, no. 12, pp. 635-654, 2000.
• “Prediction and Accommodation in Evolutionary Psychology,” with Malcolm Forster, Psychological Inquiry vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 31-33, p. 2000.
• “Presence of Mind,” in V. Hardcastle (ed.), Biology Meets Psychology: Constraints, Connections, Conjectures (Cambridge: MIT Press: 83-98, 1999).
• “Evolutionary Theory Meets Cognitive Psychology: A More Selective Perspective,” (with William Epstein) Mind and Language vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 171-194, 1998.
• “Do's and Don'ts for Darwinizing Psychology,” in C. Allen and D. Cummins (eds.), The Evolution of Mind (New York: Oxford University Press: 243-259, 1998).
• “The Nature of Nature: Rethinking Naturalistic Theories of Intentionality,” Philosophical Psychology, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 309-322, 1997.
• “Junk Representations,” The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 345-361, 1997.
• “A Clearer Vision,” Philosophy of Science, vol. 64, no. 1, pp. 131-153, 1997.
• “Representation from Bottom and Top,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 523-542, 1996.
• “What is Psychophysics?,” in D. Hull, M. Forbes, and R. M. Burian (eds.), PSA 1994, vol. 2 (East Lansing, MI: Philosophy of Science Associa tion: 47-57).
• “Behavior, ISO Functionalism, and Psychology,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, vol. 25, no. 2, pp. 191-209, 1994.
• “Content, Kinds, and Individualism in Marr’s Theory of Vision,” The Philosophical Review, vol. 102, no. 4, pp. 489-513, 1993.
• “Darwin and Disjunction: Foraging Theory and Univocal Assignments of Content,” in D. Hull, M. Forbes and K. Okruhlik (eds.), PSA 1992, vol. 1 (East Lansing, MI: Philosophy of Science Association: 469-480).

External links

• Lawrence's Shapiro website