{"id":8359,"date":"2022-01-11T16:48:40","date_gmt":"2022-01-11T21:48:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/philo\/?page_id=8359"},"modified":"2025-09-23T10:08:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T14:08:25","slug":"john-findlay-visiting-professor","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/philo\/people\/john-findlay-visiting-professor\/","title":{"rendered":"Findlay Visiting Professor"},"content":{"rendered":"

The John Findlay Visiting Professorship was created by the Board of Trustees on July 6, 1993 in honor of Professor John Findlay<\/a>, a former faculty member of the Department of Philosophy and outstanding philosopher. The purpose of this chair is to bring an outstanding associate or full professor of philosophy to Boston University for either one semester or a full academic year.<\/p>\n

Findlay Visiting Professors, in addition to being present in some form on campus for one to two semesters, also teach one course in the Department of Philosophy and deliver a public lecture at some point during their term. Learn more below about our current Findlay Visiting Professor and stay tuned for more details on past FVPs and more information.<\/p>\n

2025 – 2026<\/h2>\n

Michelle Montague (University of Texas at Austin)<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Michelle Montague works primarily in the philosophy of mind. Her work is also influential in the fields of phenomenology and metaphysics. She is currently Professor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the course of her career, she has held appointments at UC Irvine and the University of Bristol and has been a visiting professor or scholar at leading institutions such as Princeton, Oxford, MIT, ANU, the University of Copenhagen, and the University of London.<\/p>\n

Montague\u2019s monograph\u00a0The Given: Experience and Its Content<\/em>\u00a0(Oxford University Press, 2016) is among her best-known works. In it she argues that conscious experience, whether perception, thought, or emotion, necessarily involves four interlocking features: content, intentionality, consciousness, and phenomenology. She distinguishes three fundamental kinds of phenomenology\u2014sensory, cognitive, and evaluative\u2014in her account of the ways in which different kinds of mental life are given to the subject and argues that they are mutually irreducible.<\/p>\n

Montague has also published a number of influential articles such as \u201cPerception and cognitive phenomenology\u201d (Philosophical Studies<\/em>, 2017). In this article she explores how phenomena such as \u201cseeing as\u201d and linguistic understanding function in debates over cognitive phenomenology and proposes a number of ways in which we can distinguish more precisely between sensory and cognitive kinds of phenomenological content. In\u00a0\u201cAgainst Propositionalism\u201d\u00a0(No\u00fbs<\/em>, 2007), she challenges the dominant view that all intentional mental states without exception\u00a0should be understood or analyzed as\u00a0relations to propositions. She argues that we need an essentially broader understanding of intentionality, one that accommodates wholly or merely objectual (i.e. essentially non-propositional attitudes) in addition to propositional attitudes. In \u201cThe Logic, Intentionality, and Phenomenology of Emotion\u201d (Philosophical Studies<\/em>, 2009) Montague\u00a0defends the view that emotions have a\u00a0sui generis<\/em>\u00a0intentionality and phenomenology not reducible to cognition or desire. Among her more recent publications is \u201cBrentano\u2019s theory of intentionality\u201d (European Journal of Philosophy<\/em>, 2023). Here Montague engages in some detailed work in the history of philosophy in her continuing investigation into the nature of intentionality.<\/p>\n

Montague has co-edited (and contributed to) two volumes of papers. The papers were in all cases specially commissioned. The first volume, Cognitive Phenomenology<\/em>\u00a0(Oxford University Press, 2011), co-edited with Tim Bayne, contains a broad conspectus of views on the nature, limits, and implications of cognitive phenomenology which have since their publication occasioned a great deal of discussion. The second volume is relatively recent, Non-propositional Intentionality<\/em> (Oxford University Press, 2018), co-edited with Alex Grzankowski.<\/p>\n

Fall 2024<\/strong>
Course #: CAS PH 443\/643 A1, Philosophy of Mind
Meeting Time: Wed 2:30pm-5:15pm<\/p>\n

Office Hours, Fall 2025: Wednesday 12:00pm-2:00pm, STH 511<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Past Findlay Visiting Professors<\/h2>\n

2023-2024<\/strong>
Bernard Reginster<\/strong><\/p>\n

Bernard Reginster<\/a> (Brown)\u00a0is Romeo Elton Professor of Natural Theology in the Philosophy Department at Brown University.<\/span><\/p>\n

2021 – 2022
\nLydia Patton<\/strong><\/p>\n

Lydia Patton<\/a> (Virginia Tech) is a philosopher of science and a historian of the philosophy of science.<\/p>\n

2017 – 2018
\nJack Copeland<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jack Copeland<\/a> (University of Canterbury) is a philosopher of logic and the author of books on the computing pioneer Alan Turing.<\/p>\n

2013
\nAlfredo Ferrarin<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alfredo Ferrarin<\/a> (University of Pisa) is a philosopher and the author of seven books, including\u00a0<\/span>Hegel and Aristotle<\/span><\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>The Powers of Pure Reason: Kant and the Idea of Cosmic Philosophy<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

2012 – 2013
\nDrew Hyland<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drew Hyland<\/a> (Trinity College) is an American philosopher who has taught at the University of Toronto, BU, the New School for Social Research, and is now the Charles A. Dana Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College. His work spans Ancient Greek philosophy, 19th and 20th century Continental philosophy, philosophy of sport, and philosophy of art.<\/p>\n

2011 – 2012
\nAm\u00e9lie Oksenberg Rorty<\/strong><\/p>\n

Am\u00e9lie Oksenberg Rorty<\/a> (BU) was an American philosopher known for her work in the philosophy of mind, history of philosophy, and moral philosophy. In addition to her work as a Findlay at BU, Dr. Rorty taught classes in philosophy at Harvard, Tufts University, Brandeis University, and a range of other institutions.<\/span><\/p>\n

2010 – 2011
\nRoger Crisp<\/strong><\/p>\n

Roger Crisp<\/a> (Oxford) is a professor of moral philosophy and works in the field of ethics, particularly exploring metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. While a Findlay, Dr. Crisp taught History of Ethics and led a graduate-level seminar on ethics.<\/p>\n

2010
\nMitchell Miller<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mitchell Miller<\/a> (Vassar College) is an American philosopher working on the late dialogues of Plato, Hesiod, Parmenides, and Hegel.<\/p>\n

2009
\nJohn Gray<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Gray<\/a> (London School of Economics & Political Science) is a British philosopher who works in political and analytical philosophy and the history of ideas. In addition to teaching and scholarship, Dr. Grey contributes regularly to The Guardian, The Times Literary Supplement<\/em>, and New Statesmen<\/em>, where he is the lead book reviewer.<\/p>\n

2008 – 2009
\nSusan James<\/strong><\/p>\n

Susan James<\/a> (Birkbeck College) is a British professor well known for her work on the history of seventeenth and eighteenth-century philosophy, political and social philosophy, and feminist philosophy.<\/p>\n

2007 – 2008
\nPeter Vanderschraaf<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peter Vanderschraaf<\/a> (Arizona) is a philosopher currently working in the University of Arizona’s Political Economy & Moral Science department. His work explores political philosophy, game theory, ethics, Hobbesian and Humean moral and political theory. While a Findlay, Dr. Vanderschraaf taught Great Philosophers and Philosophy of Social Science.<\/p>\n

2006
\nAnat Biletzki<\/strong><\/p>\n

Anat Biletzki<\/a> (Tel Aviv University) is a professor of philosophy at Quinnipiac University and Tel Aviv University; she teaches and researches human rights, political thought, analytic philosophy, and digital culture. While serving as a Findlay, Dr. Biletzki taught Reasoning & Argumentation and The Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights.<\/p>\n

2005 – 2006
\nAlan White<\/strong><\/p>\n

Alan White<\/a> (Williams College) is an American philosopher and the former president of the Metaphysical Society of America. Dr. White presented his Findlay Public Lecture, “Can Philosophy be Systematic, and Ought it to Be?”<\/p>\n

2005
\nKenneth P. Winkler<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kenneth P. Winkler<\/a> (Yale) is a philosopher whose work has explored American philosophy, metaphysics, and Early Modern philosophy.<\/p>\n

2003 – 2004
\nP.J. Ivanhoe<\/strong><\/p>\n

P.J. Ivanhoe<\/a> (Georgetown) is a philosopher and historian of Chinese thought, particularly on Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism. Dr. Ivanhoe taught an upper-level course on virtue ethics and a course on Chinese philosophy, and gave his Findlay Public Lecture on “The Value of Spontaneity.”<\/p>\n

2002 – 2003
\nStephen Mulhall<\/strong><\/p>\n

Stephen Mulhall<\/a> (Oxford) is a philosopher and Fellow at Oxford. His research has focused on Wittgenstein, Heidegger, post-Kantian philosophy, and Stanley Cavell. Dr. Mulhall gave his Findlay Public Lecture on “Ethics in the Light of Wittgenstein.”<\/p>\n

Spring 2002
\nJenny Teichman<\/strong><\/p>\n

Jenny Teichman<\/a> (University of Cambridge) was an Australian-British philosopher whose work explored ethics, philosophy of mind, pacificism, and war.<\/p>\n

Spring 2002
\nThomas Ricketts<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thomas Ricketts<\/a> (UPenn) is an American philosopher whose research interes explore the development of Analytic Philosophy, especially the work of Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Carnap, and Quine.<\/p>\n

Fall 2001
\nDavid Wiggins<\/strong><\/p>\n

David Wiggins<\/a> <\/span>(Oxford) is an English\u00a0<\/span>moral\u00a0<\/span>philosopher,\u00a0<\/span>metaphysician, and philosophical\u00a0<\/span>logician\u00a0working especially on\u00a0<\/span>identity\u00a0and issues in\u00a0<\/span>meta-ethics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spring 2001
\nR\u00e9mi Brague<\/strong><\/p>\n

R\u00e9mi Brague<\/a> (Universit\u00e9 Panth\u00e9on-Sorbonne) is a French historian of philosophy who focuses on philosophy in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n

Fall 2000
\nDrew Hyland<\/strong><\/p>\n

Drew Hyland<\/a> (Trinity College) is an American philosopher who has taught at the University of Toronto, BU, the New School for Social Research, and is now the Charles A. Dana Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College. His work spans Ancient Greek philosophy, 19th and 20th century Continental philosophy, philosophy of sport, and philosophy of art.<\/p>\n

Spring 2000
\nOwen Flanagan<\/strong><\/p>\n

Owen Flanagan<\/a> (Duke University) is a Professor of Philosophy and Neurobiology. Flanagan has done work in philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of social science, ethics, contemporary ethical theory, moral psychology, as well as on cross-cultural philosophy. Flanagan is also an alumnus of BU’d Ph.D. Philosophy program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Spring 1999
\nDavid Wong<\/strong><\/p>\n

David Wong<\/a> (Duke University) is an American philosopher with a focus on ethics, moral psychology, comparative ethics, and Chinese philosophy. He is especially well known for his defense of a version of moral relativism.<\/span><\/p>\n

Spring 1997
\nWilliam Desmond<\/strong><\/p>\n

William Desmond<\/a> (Penn State University) is an Irish philosopher who has written on ontology, metaphysics, ethics, and religion. One of his most important contributions to contemporary philosophy is the concept of the “metaxological” in metaphysics.<\/p>\n

Spring 1995
\nR\u00e9mi Brague<\/strong><\/p>\n

R\u00e9mi Brague<\/a> (Universit\u00e9 Panth\u00e9on-Sorbonne) is a French historian of philosophy who focuses on philosophy in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism in the Middle Ages.<\/p>\n

Spring 1995
\nHenry Allison<\/strong><\/p>\n

Henry Allison<\/a> (UC San Diego, BU) was a Findlay Visiting Professor before joining BU Philosophy permanently, teaching in our department until his retirement in 2004. Dr. Allison is one of the eminent English-speaking Kant scholars and also explored Spinoza, 18th and 19th-century philosophy, transcendental idealism, freedom of the will, and the concept of the purposiveness of nature.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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