Mark Perlman
CURRICULUM VITAE - PHILOSOPHY
PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Western Oregon University
(since 1998, tenured in 2001, promoted to Professor in 2007)
Visiting Assistant Professor, Philosophy Department, Arizona State University (1997-98)
Lecturer in Philosophy, Philosophy Department, Arizona State University (1993-1997)
Graduate Teaching Associate, University of Arizona, (1989-93)
Graduate Teaching Assistant, Ohio State University (1988-89)
Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Arizona, May 1994, Dissertation Director: Robert Cummins
M.A., Philosophy, Ohio State University, June 1989.
B.A. with Honors, Anthropology and Philosophy, Ohio State University, June 1987
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, Germany: Junior Year in Munich, 1985-86
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science (Particularly of Biology), Metaphysics, Philosophy of Law, Aesthetics (Particularly Philosophy of Music)
AREAS OF COMPETENCE History of Modern Philosophy, Epistemology, Cognitive Science, Applied Ethics, Meta-Ethics, Philosophy of Language, Social/Political Philosophy, Existentialism
Functions: New Essays in the Philosophy of Psychology and Biology (Oxford University Press, 2002)
Co-editor of an anthology, with Robert Cummins and Andre Ariew.
New readings on teleological functions and their place in philosophy of science and philosophy of mind. Contributors include Cummins, Millikan, Neander, Ruse, Sterelny, Enç, and others, including myself.
CONCEPTUAL FLUX: Mental Representation, Misrepresentation, and Concept Change
In “Studies in Cognitive Systems”, Kluwer Academic Publishers [now Springer Verlag], 2000.
This book
criticizes the way all contemporary theories of mental representation seek to
account for misrepresentation. I argue that there can be no naturalistic
account of misrepresentation, and formulate a naturalistic theory of
representation that reluctantly accepts this unfortunate conclusion (but one
which is an unavoidable consequence of the rejection of the analytic/synthetic
distinction). I specifically evaluate and criticize the theories of mental
content proposed by Fodor, Dretske, Millikan, Block, Harman, and others. I then
argue that with a pragmatic theory of content, we can explain apparent
misrepresentation as concept change - representations can be good or bad in
specific contexts and for specific purposes, but their correctness is not a
matter of truth and falsity. This shines new light on the problem of meaning
holism, and also on the analytic/synthetic distinction. The pragmatic approach
to mental content also has implications for epistemology, theories of truth,
metaphysics (specifically the issue of natural kinds), psychology, and
artificial intelligence (specifically connectionist networks). Both the
critique and positive theory, if successful, disprove a long-standing dogma of
representation, that there can be no representation without misrepresentation.
PUBLICATIONS – PAPERS:
(forthcoming 2008) “Traits Have Evolved to Function the Way They Do Because of a Past Advantage”, in Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Biology edited by Francisco Ayala and Robert Arp. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
(forthcoming in 2008) “Changing the Mission of Theories of Teleology” in Functions in Biological and Artificial Worlds: Comparative Philosophical Perspectives. Eds.: U. Krohs & P. Kroes, MIT Press, Cambridge Mass., 2008.
“Authentic Performance of Music: From Bach and Handel to Elvis, Ray Charles, and the Blues Brothers” at the International Journal of the Arts, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2007.
“If It Isn't on the Internet, It Doesn't Exist: The New Generation View of Books as Archaic Relics”, as a chapter in the book The Future of the Book in the Electronic Age, Chandos Publishing, Oxford, 2007.
“If It Isn't on the Internet, It Doesn't Exist: The New Generation View of Books as Archaic Relics”, International Journal of the Book. Volume 3, Issue 3, pp.39-44, 2005/2006.
“The Modern Philosophical Resurrection of Teleology”, The Monist, Vol. 87, No. 1, January 2004, pp. 3-51.
“Pagan Teleofunctionalism” in Functions: New Readings in the Philosophy of Biology and Psychology, Edited by André Ariew, Robert Cummins, and Mark Perlman. Oxford University Press, 2002.
“The Trouble With Two-Factor Conceptual Role Theories.” Minds and Machines 7: 495-513, 1997.
“Punishing Acts and Counting Consequences” Arizona Law Review, Vol. 37, No. 1, Spring 1995, pp. 227-241.
“The World According to Captain James T. Kirk: Rejecting Utopia for the Struggle of Human Existence”
31st Annual Conference of the Society for Utopian Studies, Colorado Springs, Colorado, October 14, 2006.
“Changing the Mission of Theories of Teleology” Conference on the Comparative Philosophy of Technical Artefacts and Biological Organisms, Altenburg, Austria, at the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, Sept. 2006.
“Authentic Performance of Music: From Bach and Handel to Elvis, Ray Charles, and the Blues Brothers”,
International Conference on the Arts in Society, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, August 17, 2006.
“If It Isn't on the Internet, It Doesn't Exist: The New Generation View of Books as Archaic Relics”
3rd International Conference on the Book, Brookes University, Oxford, England, September 10, 2005.
Organizer and Panelist for two day Philosophy Club Winter Symposium: “Music and Language”, Western Oregon University, January 30 and February 6, 2004
Commentator on: “Enriching Justice: The Ideal of Autonomy and the Ideal of Reciprocity as Coinciding” American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting, March 2003
“The Metaphysical Problem of Change” Western Oregon University Philosophy Club Lecture Series, October 25, 2002.
Invited Member of panel discussion on capitalism, Western Oregon University, May 2002.
Member of Panel for Presentation “What is Diversity?” Western Oregon University Philosophy Club Lecture Series, Oct. 22, 1999.
“Psychological Egoism and Reinterpretation of First-Person Reports of Mental State Content”
2nd Annual Inland Northwest Philosophy Conference, Moscow, ID, and Pullman, WA, April 23-25, 1999
“The World According to Captain James T. Kirk: Rejecting Utopia for the Struggle of Human Existence”
Utopia and Dystopia: 20th International Conference on the Fantastic in the Arts, Sponsored by the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts, Ft. Lauderdale, March 1999
“The World According to Captain James T. Kirk: Rejecting Utopia for the Struggle of Human Existence”
Western Oregon University Philosophy Club Lecture Series, Spring 1999.
“Should We Be Teaching The ‘Truth’? A Reply to Dean Braa” Western Oregon University Philosophy Club Lecture Series, January 8, 1999.
“The Meaning of the Meaning of Life” International Society for Universalism Conference (in conjunction with the World Philosophy Conference, Boston, MA) Aug. 1998
“The Ethics Of Keeping Or Breaking Promises” Featured Expert Speaker on The Chip Franklin Show, ABC Radio (WMAL-AM Washington D.C., via telephone), July 12, 1998.
“Psychological Egoism and Reinterpretation of First-Person Reports of Mental State Content”
Tucson III conference TOWARD A SCIENCE OF CONSCIOUSNESS, May 2, 1998
“How Can Our Ideas Be Wrong?” Philosophy Colloquium, Western Oregon University, Monmouth, Oregon, March 3, 1998
“How Can Our Ideas Be Wrong?” Philosophy Colloquium, University of Nevada - Las Vegas, Feb. 26, 1998
“Misplaying a Musical Work: A Problem in Musical Ontology” Invited colloquium speaker, University of Arizona, February 20, 1998.
“Mental Representation, Error, and Concept Change” - Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, MI, May 1997
“Misrepresentation and Logically Complex Expressions” - American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meeting, March 1997
“Critical Thinking” - invited speaker, Arizona Society of Secular Humanists, Scottsdale, AZ, 1996
Commentator for Richard Dees, “Trust and Tolerance” - American Philosophical Association Central Division Meeting, April 1995
“The Trouble With Two-Factor Conceptual Role Theories”
Colloquium Paper: American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Meeting, December 1994
“Conceptual Flux: The Consequences of Strict Conceptual Role Semantics and the Rejection of Error” presented at:
Syracuse University Graduate Philosophy Conference, 1993
Discipuli Graduate Student Conference in Philosophy, University of Southern California, 1993
University of Arizona Colloquium Series, November 5, 1992
“On Punishing Acts and Counting Consequences”
Discipuli Graduate Student Conference in Philosophy, University of Southern California, 1991
“Hobbes, Star Trek, and Invulnerable Tyrants” - University of Arizona Philosophy Forum, March 28, 1991
“Neurath and Quine on Observation Sentences”
Discipuli Graduate Student Conference in Philosophy, University of Southern California, 1990
Commentator on Ian Niles, “Dummett on Wittgenstein”
Discipuli Graduate Student Conference in Philosophy, University of Southern California, 1990
Commentator on John Bender: “The Current State of the Coherence Theory: Critically Comparing Lehrer and Bonjour” Meeting of the Ohio Philosophical Association, Ohio Wesleyan University, 1989