Elmhurst College Department of Philosophy

William Hirstein, Professor of Philosophy

Office: Hammerschmidt Chapel
Room: 002
Phone: (630) 617-3582
email: williamh[at]elmhurst.edu
Course Information for students

Research: My general approach is to apply the bounty of findings emerging from today's neurosciences, especially cognitive neuropsychology, to classical philosophical problems. Below are some of the specific areas I work in, along with excerpts from my published work:

Publications:

	Cognitive Science: An Introduction to Mind and Brain with Daniel Kolak, Peter Mandik, and Jonathan Waskan Routledge, 2006 Table of Contents
	Brain Fiction: Self-Deception and the Riddle of Confabulation The MIT Press, 2005 Table of Contents Reviews
	On the Churchlands Wadsworth Philosophers Series, 2004 Table of Contents
	On Searle Wadsworth Philosophers Series, 2001 Table of Contents

Selected Articles:

• Aesthetics and the Experience of Beauty. (2009) Hirstein W and Campbell M. In: William P. Banks, (Editor), Encyclopedia of Consciousness. volume 1, pp. 1-7. Oxford: Elsevier.
• Memory: Errors, Constructive Processes, and Conscious Retrieval. (2009) Hirstein W. In: William P. Banks, (Editor), Encyclopedia of Consciousness. volume 2, pp. 1-11. Oxford: Elsevier.
• Mindmelding: Connected Brains and the Problem of Consciousness, Mens Sana Monographs. (2008),6(1):110-130.
• Situational Therapy for Wernicke's Aphasia (2006) Eric Lewin Altschuler, Alicia Multari, William Hirstein, V.S. Ramachandran. Medical Hypotheses,67(4),713-716.
• Capgras Syndrome: A Novel Probe for Understanding the Neural Representation of the Identity and Familiarity of Persons(1997) William Hirstein and V.S. Ramachandran. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London,264,437-444.
• Three Laws of Qualia: Clues From Neurology About the Biological Functions of Consciousness and Qualia(1997) V.S. Ramachandran and William Hirstein. Journal of Consciousness Studies,4,429-457.
• The Perception of Phantom Limbs(1998)V.S. Ramachandran and William Hirstein. Brain,121(9),1603-1630.
• The Science of Art: A Neurological Theory of Aesthetic Experience1999)V.S. Ramachandran and William Hirstein. The Journal of Consciousness Studies,6,15-41.
• Self-Deception and Confabulation (2000) William Hirstein. Philosophy of Science,67(Proceedings),418-429.
• Autonomic Responses of Autistic Children to Objects and People(2001) William Hirstein, Portia Iversen, and V.S. Ramachandran. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London,268,1883-1888.

Excerpts From Publications:

• Autism - A Dorsal-Ventral Hypothesis
• Confabulation - A Definition of "Confabulation"
• Conciousness - There is No Necessary Epistemic Asymmetry
• Misidentification Disorders: A Mindreading Hypothesis, A Ventral-Ventral Hypothesis about Capgras Syndrome and Prosopagnosia
• Miscellaneous: American Scientist Interview, New Scientist Podcast - "Mind Fiction"