Contact Information

101 Wilson Hall

Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, MO 63130

sspauld@artsci.wustl.edu

curriculum vitae

Education:

1999 – 2002: B.A. in Philosophy: Texas Tech University 
2003 – 2005: M.A. in Philosophy: University of Arkansas 
    
M.A. Thesis: Belief-Desire Thesis Defended: The Causal Motivation of Pretense
2005 – 2011: Ph.D. in Philosophy: University of Wisconsin - Madison
   
Ph.D. Thesis: In Defense of Mindreading: A Philosophical Perspective on the Psychology and Neuroscience of Social Cognition  
                           

Areas of Specialization:

Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science

Areas of Competence:

History of Modern Philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science


Publications:

"Mirror Neurons and Social Cognition" (forthcoming): Mind & Language.

"Embodied Social Cognition" (forthcoming): Philosophical Topics.

"Introduction to Debates on Embodied Social Cognition" (forthcoming): Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences.

"Overextended Cognition" (forthcoming): Philosophical Psychology. 

"A Critique of Embodied Simulation" 2011: Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 2, 579-599. 

"Embodied Cognition and Mindreading" 2010: Mind & Language, 25, 119-140. 

Review of Andy Clark's Supersizing the Mind (with Lawrence Shapiro). 2009: Notre Dame Philosophical Review. 

"Imagination and Other Scripts" (with Eric Funkhouser). 2009: Philosophical Studies, 143, 291-314.


Works in Progress:

"On Whether We Can See Intentions"
In this paper, I consider the claim that we can directly perceive others' intentions. Various embodied, enactive, and extended cognition proponents, continental philosophers, and cognitive neuroscientists defend this claim. I argue against the idea that we can directly perceive others' intentions. A proper understanding of intention, specifically, the different kinds of intention, shows that the direct perception claim is either banal or false. 

"Embodied Cognition on Theory of Mind" invited chapter for Handbook of Embodied Cognition. Lawrence Shapiro (ed). Routledge Press.
In this paper, I review embodied cognition account of social cognition. I discuss their critiques of traditional cognitivist accounts of social cognition, embodied cognition's alternative account of social cognition, and the specific challenges these accounts face.

Talks and Conference Presentations:

Invited Contributor: Metaphysics of Mind Workshop
        University of Berlin, July 2012

"A Theory-Theory Account of Mirror Neurons"
        Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference, June 2012
        Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference, March 2012

Invited Discussant: Knowledge Through Imagination Conference
        Claremont McKenna College, April 2012

"Mirror Neurons and Social Cognition"
        Washington University in St Louis, PNP/Medical School Seminar, March 2012
        Washington University in St Louis, November 2011

Commenter on Timothy Fuller and Richard Samuels' "Is Scientific Inference Holistic in Any Sense that Matters for Cognitive Science?"
        American Philosophical Association, Central Division, February 2012

"Mirror Neurons Are Not Evidence for Simulation Theory"
        St Louis Philosophy of Science Association, February 2012

"Overextended Cognition"
        University of Missouri - St Louis, February 2012
        Oklahoma State University, January 2012
        Georgia State University, April 2011
        University of Arkansas, April 2011
        University of Cincinnati, January 2011
        Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference, June 2009

"The Role of Mirror Neurons in Social Cognition"
        Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference, March 2011

Commenter on Tad Zawidzki's paper, "Theory of Mind, Computational Tractability, and Mindshaping"
        Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference, April 2010

"The Mark of the Cognitive"
        University of Texas Graduate Philosophy Conference, April 2009        
"The Thesis of Multiple Realizability"
        Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference, April 2009
        University of Wisconsin - Madison, March 2009

"Embodied Cognition and Mindreading"
        Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology Conference, March 2008
        Yale/UConn Graduate Philosophy Conference, November 2007
        Iowa Philosophical Society Conference, October 2007
        University of Wisconsin - Madison, September 2007

Professional Service:

Reviewer for Minds and Machines, Philosophical Psychology, Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, Review of Philosophy and Psychology, and Synthese.

Teaching:

Great Philosophers           

Historically oriented introductory course with a focus on the most important texts in the history of Western philosophy. Philosophers studied included Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, and Kant.

Introduction to Philosophy 

Introductory course with an emphasis on introducing students to a variety of philosophical topics in the analytic tradition. Topics included epistemology, philosophy of religion, metaphysics, philosophy of mind, ethics, and political philosophy. 

Contemporary Moral Issues

Course targeted to non-majors with an emphasis on applied ethics. Topics included abortion, animal ethics, capital punishment, famine relief, and licensing parents.

Other Minds

Upper-level undergraduate/graduate course in philosophy of mind. The focus of the course is social cognition, our ability to understand and engage in social interactions. Topics included nativism, modularity of the mind, Dennett’s intentional stance, animal minds, and autism. 

Philosophy of Science

Upper-level undergraduate/graduate survey in philosophy of science. Topics included demarcating science from pseudoscience, values and objectivity in science, underdetermination, the problem of induction, models of explanation, laws of nature, reductionism, and scientific realism. 

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