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Jesse J. Prinz is an American philosopher who is Distinguished Professor of
philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...
and Director of the Committee for Interdisciplinary Science Studies at the
Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...
. Prinz works primarily in the
philosophy of psychology Philosophy of psychology is concerned with the history and foundations of psychology. It deals with both epistemological and ontological issues and shares interests with other fields, including philosophy of mind and theoretical psychology. Philo ...
and ethics and has authored several books and over 100 articles, addressing such topics as
concepts A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, psy ...
,
emotions Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...
,
moral psychology Moral psychology is the study of human thought and behavior in ethical contexts. Historically, the term "moral psychology" was used relatively narrowly to refer to the study of moral development. This field of study is interdisciplinary between th ...
,
attention Attention or focus, is the concentration of awareness on some phenomenon to the exclusion of other stimuli. It is the selective concentration on discrete information, either subjectively or objectively. William James (1890) wrote that "Atte ...
,
consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...
and
aesthetics Aesthetics (also spelled esthetics) is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of beauty and taste (sociology), taste, which in a broad sense incorporates the philosophy of art.Slater, B. H.Aesthetics ''Internet Encyclopedia of Ph ...
. Much of his work in these areas has been a defense of
empiricism In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...
against
psychological nativism In the field of psychology, nativism is the view that certain skills or abilities are "native" or hard-wired into the brain at birth. This is in contrast to the "blank slate" or view, which states that the brain has inborn capabilities for learni ...
, and he situates his work as in the naturalistic tradition of philosophy associated with
David Hume David Hume (; born David Home; – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, historian, economist, and essayist who was best known for his highly influential system of empiricism, philosophical scepticism and metaphysical naturalism. Beg ...
. Prinz is also an advocate of
experimental philosophy An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs whe ...
.
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Education and career

Prinz took his Ph.D. at the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
under the direction of Murat Aydede, a philosopher of cognitive science. He taught previously at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC, UNC–Chapel Hill, or simply Carolina) is a public university, public research university in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States. Chartered in 1789, the university first began enrolli ...
and at
Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) is a private research university in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1853 by a group of civic leaders and named for George Washington, the university spans 355 acres across its Danforth ...
, with visiting positions at
University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...
,
California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech) is a private research university in Pasadena, California, United States. The university is responsible for many modern scientific advancements and is among a small group of institutes ...
, and
University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...
.


Philosophical work


Theory of concepts

Prinz has offered a renewed version of British
Empiricists In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along ...
' ( Locke and Hume) theories of
concepts A concept is an abstract idea that serves as a foundation for more concrete principles, thoughts, and beliefs. Concepts play an important role in all aspects of cognition. As such, concepts are studied within such disciplines as linguistics, psy ...
which treats concepts - not exclusively but mainly - as
prototypes A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and software programming. A prototype is generally used to ...
.


Philosophy of emotions

Jesse Prinz has offered a "natural kinds" theory of
emotion Emotions are physical and mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavior, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is ...
s. According to him, an emotional experience is a bodily change that indicates situations in our environment that should concern us. When we encounter a stimulus that affects our well-being we experience a set of bodily changes that represent things like dangers, losses, and offenses. These bodily changes are appropriate to the situation and are learned over time through association to specific instances we have encountered in the past. They are felt, but oftentimes these feelings are not in the foreground of
phenomenal consciousness Consciousness, at its simplest, is awareness of a state or object, either internal to oneself or in one's external environment. However, its nature has led to millennia of analyses, explanations, and debate among philosophers, scientists, an ...
. When we do pay attention to the feeling it then becomes an actual emotion. The set of possible feelings are limited by our biology and correspond roughly to our traditional emotional categories. The traditional emotions (anger, fear, etc.) have functional roles and are always related to objects and situations in the environment. They are always directed toward something (i.e. intentional), and these emotions have a particular bodily configuration that defines them. According to Prinz,Prinz, J. (2003). Emotions Embodied. In R. Solomon, Thinking about Feeling (pp. 1-14). New York: Oxford University Press. there are six basic emotions, which are characterized by unique body patterns. The ‘big six’ emotions are actually subdivided into a biologically basic primitive stock of feelings that each culture classifies in different ways. For example, fear could be subdivided into worry (future dangers) and panic (present dangers), both of which spring the experiencing organism into action as an appropriate response to environmental stimulus. Likewise, happiness subdivides into sensory pleasure, satisfaction, and joy which each have specific bodily responses. Complex emotions such as despair, romantic love, and jealousy are recent (on an evolutionary timescale) additions to the breadth of possible affects that are also associations between our primitive stock of feelings and particular kinds of situations. Other
homeostatic emotion Homeostatic feeling is a class of feelings (e.g. thirst, fatigue, pain, desire, malaise, well-being) that inform us about our physiological condition. In his earlier work Antonio Damasio used "primordial feeling" but he now prefers the term "homeos ...
s such as hunger and fatigue are different in that they are states of the organism rather than relationships between it and its environment. According to this theory, when we encounter certain stimuli we experience a learned bodily change in response. These bodily-change stimuli, or elicitors, belong to what Prinz calls a mental file that is connected to one of our primitive stock of emotions through learning. These “elicitation files” can then trigger the relevant response previously associated with it. Throughout our lives new files can be created and new triggering conditions can be added to existing files. Similar files can become so closely related that triggers for one can also cause the other. However, these elicitation files should not be confused with the emotions themselves, but rather they are culturally calibrated triggers for our emotions. According to Prinz, affects are exhausted by the somatic feelings that are experienced. Emotions are only the feelings and not the causes or effects of those feelings. Each feeling is associated with a range of conditions and represents a response to the current situation being experienced.


Ethics and moral psychology

Prinz also defends sentimentalism in ethics, and ethical relativism.


Books

*''Furnishing the Mind: Concepts and Their Perceptual Basis'' (MIT: 2002) *''Gut Reactions: A Perceptual Theory of Emotion'' (OUP: 2004) *''The Emotional Construction of Morals'' (OUP: 2007) *''Beyond Human Nature'' (Penguin/Norton: 2012) *''The Conscious Brain'' (OUP: 2012)


Edited books

*''The Handbook of Philosophy of Psychology''. Oxford: Oxford University Press (forthcoming). *''Mind and Cognition'', 3rd Edition (with William Lycan). Oxford: Blackwell (Blackwell: 2008) *Section on 'Philosophy of Mind'. St. Cahn (ed.) ''Philosophy for the 21st Century''. (OUP: 2002).


References


External links


Academic sources


Prinz Personal HomepagePrinz archive on the CUNY Philosophy CommonsPrinz's list of publications on PhilPapers


Media engagement


Discussion of experimental philosophy on YouTubeVideo interview/discussion with Prinz
and Will Wilkinson on Bloggingheads.tv
The Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies video interview with Jesse Prinz
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prinz, Jesse University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill faculty CUNY Graduate Center faculty Living people 21st-century American philosophers Philosophers of psychology Moral psychologists American philosophers of mind Year of birth missing (living people) Washington University in St. Louis faculty Academic staff of the University of British Columbia