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PhD-scholarships in Neurophilosophy

The Graduate School of Systemic Neurosciences (GSN) at LMU Munich invites applications for several PhD scholarships in Neurophilosophy. The GSN is the teaching entity for the Munich Center of Neurosciences - Brain & Mind (MCN). Through creating an interdisciplinary network of research the GSN provides a stimulating environment for students and faculty to produce novel formulations of current concepts and theories. Successful applicants will be affiliated with the Research Center for Neurophilosophy and Ethics of Neurosciences (http://www.neuro.philosophie.lmu.de) at the GSN.

Projects in the research center fall in the following areas:

• philosophy of cognitive neuroscience (explanation, reduction)
• philosophy and cognitive science of agency (mental causation, free will, moral psychology, abilities) • philosophy and cognitive science of reasoning (e.g. deductive and non-deductive reasoning, logic and neural networks, decision making)
• ethics of neuroscience (research ethics, enhancement)
• philosophy of perception
• philosophy and social cognition

In the new application round we encourage applications in smaller focus areas in order to build research groups. In the 2023/24 round the focus areas are:

• reasoning and decision making (esp. deductive and non-deductive reasoning in science and ordinary life, individual and collective decision making)
• human agency (esp. mental causation, complex action, multi-tasking, attention, reductive and non-reductive explanation of agency)
• metacognition (esp. Metacognition in perception, self-evaluation and sense of self)
• group cognition (group epistemology, collective decisions and group responsibility)

However, single exceptional and independent projects in one of the other areas are also encouraged.

Applicants should have advanced training in philosophy (typically a Master’s degree in philosophy) and a genuine interest in the neurosciences. This includes the willingness to acquire substantial knowledge of empirical work relevant to their philosophical project. Cooperative projects with empirical scientists in the network of the MCN are strongly encouraged. The reasoning and decision-making projects are closely linked to research conducted at the MCMP (http://www.lmu.de/mcmp) and at least one supervisor will be a member of the MCMP.

The application period will open on December 1st 2023 and will close on February 15th 2024, 12:00. Please check our website (www.neuro.philosophie.lmu.de) and the GSN webside (https://www.gsn.uni-muenchen.de/apply/how_to_apply/index.html) for details concerning the application procedure. The application includes an outline of your proposed research project, a CV, an official transcript of your academic work (list of attended courses; grades), diplomas and two separate academic reference letters. Please also name two potential supervisors (possibly including one non-philosopher) from the core or affiliated neurophilosophy faculty of the GSN.

Several publications by members of the Research Center have appeared in the last few months:

• Keshmirian, A., Hemmatian, B., Bahrami, B. et al. Diffusion of punishment in collective norm violations (external link). Sci Rep 12, 15318 (2022).
• Keshmirian, A., Deroy, O., & Bahrami, B. (2022). Many heads are more utilitarian than one (external link). Cognition, Volume 220, 104965.
• Retkoceri, U. Remembering emotions (external link). Biol Philos 37, 5 (2022).
• Segovia-Cuéllar, A., Del Savio, L. On the use of evolutionary mismatch theories in debating human prosociality (external link). Med Health Care and Philos (2021).
• Rappe S. (forthcoming 2020). Now, Never, or Coming Soon? Prediction and Efficient Language Processing. Pragmatics & Cognition.
• Rappe, S. (2020). Brain-Mind [Review of the book Brain-Mind: From Neurons to Consciousness and Creativity, by P. Thagard]. Metapsychology Online Reviews.
• Urim Retkoceri (2020). False procedural memory (external link). Philosophical Psychology. 1–27.
• Lipski, Joachim. (2020). Natural diversity: A neo-essentialist misconstrual of homeostatic property cluster theory in natural kind debates (external link). Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A. 94-103.
• Battich, Lucas., Fairhurst, Merle, & Deroy, Ophelia. (2020). Coordinating attention requires coordinated senses (external link). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.
• Battich, Lucas & Geurts, Bart. (2020). Joint attention and perceptual experience (external Link). Synthese.
• Štukelj, Gašper. (2019). On the simplicity of simple heuristics (external link). Adaptive Behavior. 1-11.
• Battich, Lucas. (2018). Are non-human primates Gricean? Intentional communication in language evolution  (external link). Pulse: A History, Sociology and Philosophy of Science Journal. Issue 5, 70-88.
• Döhne, Malte, von Grundherr, M., & Schäfer, Mechthild. (2018). Peer influence in bullying: The autonomy-enhancing effect of moral competence (external Link). Aggressive Behavior, Advance online publication, 1–10.
• von Grundherr, Michael, & Friedrich, O. (2018). Wie Explikation ethische Abwägungsprozesse beeinflusst: Moralpsychologische Forschungsfragen. In U. Müller, P. Richter, & T. Potthast (Eds.), Abwägen und Anwenden (pp. 151–166). Tübingen: Narr Franke Attempto.
• Friedrich, O., & von Grundherr, Michael. (2018). Moralische Kompetenz und Medizinethikausbildung im Medizinstudium. In U. Müller, P. Richter, & T. Potthast (Eds.), Anwenden und Abwägen (pp. 207–219). Tübingen: Narr Franke Attempto.
• Lipski, Joachim. (2018). Radical Rationalization Accommodates Rampant Irrationality (external Link).
  Organon F, 25(1), 53-73.
• Günther, Mario. (2018). On the Ramsey Test Analysis of 'Because' (external Link). Erkenntnis (forthcoming).
• Steinert, Steffen, & Lipski, Joachim. (2018). Who is Afraid of Commitment? On the Relation
  of Scientific Evidence and Conceptual Theory (external Link). Erkenntnis, 83(3), 477-500