John Morrison

Research

My dissertation is about the contrast between what our visual experiences tell us and what our best physical theories tell us. It consists of four essays: an essay about whether our color experiences are accurate, an essay about what we mean when we say that our visual experiences “have content,” and two essays about Spinoza’s and Descartes’s attempts to integrate the intentional and causal properties of visual experiences.

My research is primarily in the philosophy of mind and the history of modern philosophy (esp. the seventeenth century). I also have strong secondary interests in the philosophy of language (esp. vagueness), epistemology and logic.

The members of my committee are Ned Block, Don Garrett, James Pryor and Stephen Schiffer, who is chair.

Background

I was an undergraduate at Williams College where I primarily studied mathematics and continental philosophy. In 2001 I entered the PhD program in philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh. At Pittsburgh I worked with Anil Gupta on epistemology and the philosophy of perception. After earning a master's degree I transferred to the PhD program at NYU to accomodate my wife's training as a therapist.

Materials

• Color in a Physical World; appendix

• A New Interpretation of Spinoza's Fourth Axiom; appendix

• Dissertation Abstract

• Future Research

• CV

• Courses

• Teaching Evaluations