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In a talk entitled “Representing the World: The Nature of Mental Content,” Dr. Neil Feit, professor and chair of the department of philosophy at SUNY Fredonia, will discuss how our individual beliefs and desires serve as representations of reality. The talk will take place on Wednesday, Apr. 7 at noon in S-104 of the Williams Center.
This presentation is free and will feature a 30-minute presentation followed by a brief discussion. All campus and community members are welcome to attend. The event is part of the College of Arts and Humanities’ annual Brown Bag Lecture series.
In his lecture, Professor Feit will explore the nature of mental content and the way our minds process beliefs and desires. Attitudes like belief and desire have some sort of representational content: beliefs represent the world as we take it to be, desires represent the world as we want it to be. During his talk, he will consider the dominant view of the nature of mental content, and then he will delve into three well-known puzzles in the philosophy of mind that complicate initial impressions.
Professor Feit earned his Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in 1996, and joined the faculty at Fredonia in 1999. His publications include the book, Belief about the Self: A Defense of the Property Theory of Content, and 14 articles in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, epistemology, metaphysics, and value theory.
His articles have appeared in such journals as Nous, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, and Philosophical Studies. He is a winner of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching and the William T. Hagan Young Scholar/Artist Award.
For more information regarding the Brown Bag Lecture Series, contact Director Natalie Gerber at gerber@fredonia.edu or 716-673-3855.
