Douglas Wadle
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts
Office Hours
Tuesday: 1-3 pm
Thursday: 1-3 pm
And by appointment
Office Location
Douglas Wadle
Assistant Professor, Philosophy
Department of Philosophy
College of Liberal Arts
Bio
I work in the philosophy of cognitive (neuro)science on topics including: a naturalized account of mental representation, mental imagery, the individuation of the senses, spatial perception in and across sensory modalities, and the interface between perceptual and linguistic representations. I also work in the philosophy of art, focusing on issues raised by experimental musical practices concerning the definition of music, the ontology of performance works, and evaluations of works and performances.
Select Scholarship
- Wadle, D. C. (Forthcoming) 'Information, Function, and Representation in Perceptual Processing', Synthese
- Blomkvist, A.*, Krempel, R.*, Wadle, D. C.*, Walsh, E., Ivanova, I. (Forthcoming) ‘Learning from Aphantasia: A Revised Framework,’ in F. de Brigard and W. Sinnott-Armstrong (eds.), Neuroscience and Philosophy, vol. 2. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
- Wadle, D. C. (2025) ‘Restricted Auditory Aspatialism’, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 76(1): 173-207. doi: https://doi.org/10.1086/716926
- Wadle, D. C. (2025) ‘The Contribution of the Bodily Senses to Body Representations in the Brain’, Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 16(3): 855-886. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-024-00756-7
- Wadle, D. C.*, Bansal, D., Wellwood, A. (2024) ‘Temporal Shaping and the Event/Process Distinction’, Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 46: 4299-4305. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/4gf6z35x
- Wadle, D. C. (2023). ‘Organized Sound, Sounds Heard, and Silence’, Ergo: An Open Access Journal of Philosophy, 10: 3. doi: https://doi.org/10.3998/ergo.4632
- Wadle, D. C. (2021). ‘Sensory Modalities and Novel Features of Perceptual Experience’, Synthese 198(10): 9841-9872. doi: https://doi.org//10.1007/s11229-020-02689-x
Currently Teaching
COGS-801
Cognitive Science Research Colloquium
0 Credits
The seminar will meet weekly every semester for 12 times (excluding the first and last weeks of the semester). Each week will feature a different presenter. The presenters will include speakers invited to RIT and RIT faculty members who are active in research relevant to Cognitive Science, as well as the students in the Cognitive Science PhD program when they have progressed to the level that they will have worthwhile research to present to their classmates and the program faculty.
PHIL-101
Introduction to Philosophy
3 Credits
Philosophy is about the rigorous discussion of big questions, and sometimes small precise questions, that do not have obvious answers. This class is an introduction to philosophical thinking where we learn how to think and talk critically about some of these challenging questions. Such as: Is there a single truth or is truth relative to different people and perspectives? Do we have free will and, if so, how? Do we ever really know anything? What gives life meaning? Is morality objective or subjective, discovered or created? We’ll use historical and contemporary sources to clarify questions like these, to understand the stakes, to discuss possible responses, and to arrive at a more coherent, more philosophically informed, set of answers.
PHIL-103
Critical Thinking
3 Credits
The purpose of this course is to improve everyday reasoning skills. Critical thinking means evaluating the reasons for our actions and beliefs. Ideally, we think our actions are rational, not arbitrary. But one does not have to look far to discover disagreement and apparent irrationality. What accounts for this? This course investigates how to argue effectively, how to evaluate evidence and reasons, and how to marshal good evidence and reasons in order to arrive at reliable knowledge and justified action. It covers common mistakes that people make in causal, statistical, moral, and everyday reasoning, and it teaches how and when it pays to be skeptical, reflective, and critical.
PHIL-416
Seminar in Philosophy
3 Credits
This course is a discussion-oriented, small group exploration of a targeted philosophical topic. The topic varies depending on the current research interests of the instructor. The seminar is an opportunity to do cutting-edge philosophy alongside other students. It is open to both majors and non-majors and may be retaken for credit.
PHIL-449
Topics in Philosophy
3 Credits
A critical examination of issues in some area of philosophy not covered in other philosophy courses.