West Virginia University

Faculty

Joseph Baltimore

Assistant Professor

  • Contact Information

  • Areas of Specialization

    • Metaphysics
      Philosophy of Mind
      Philosophy of Religion

  • Research Interests

    • My current research concerns the physicalist's problem of mental causation. Physicalism, broadly construed, is the view that the world is fundamentally physical. Consequently, for those physicalists who grant that there are mental items in the world (e.g. beliefs, desires, experiences, etc.), they must have the mental somehow dependent on, or anchored in, the physical. Now, I am concerned with whether or not this need to anchor the mental in the physical makes physicalism incompatible with mental causation. More specifically, I am currently concentrating on the follow two questions:

      (1) Is the physicalist committed to anchoring the mental in the physical to the extent that the mental fails to have a causal role distinct from that of the physical?
      (2) If the mental fails to have a causal role distinct from that of the physical, is the mental no longer a genuine cause but, rather, merely ridding "piggyback" on the causal powers of the physical?

      And in my research, I defend affirmative answers to both of these questions.

  • Other Interests

    • When not philosophizing, I enjoy spades (a great card game) and watching my favorite football team, the Washington Redskins (although often times losing gets in the way of enjoying). Perhaps the majority of my free time, however, is devoted to playing basketball. You can catch me at the Student Rec. Center playing at least a couple times a week. I love the game!

  • Courses Offered

    • Phil. 100: Problems of Philosophy;
      Phil. 301: Metaphysics
      Phil. 308: Philosophy of Religion
      Phil 494: Mental Causation

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