Rate My Professor Carrie Figdor

Carrie Figdor is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Iowa, with joint appointments in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences and the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Neuroscience. She serves as Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Philosophy and holds a term appointment in the Office of the Vice President for Research from 2023 to 2026. Figdor earned her PhD in Philosophy from the City University of New York Graduate Center in 2005. Her research centers on philosophy of psychology and neuroscience, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, metaphysics, theoretical issues in cognitive neuroscience, theoretical psychology, neuroethics, philosophy of neuroscience, and the integration of neuroscience and psychology. She explores the relation between human and nonhuman cognition, the nature of psychological properties and concepts, evidential bases for ascribing cognition to nonhumans, naturalistic explanations of mind, and normative implications for moral status.

Figdor authored the book Pieces of Mind: The Proper Domain of Psychological Predicates, published by Oxford University Press in 2018, which received an honorable mention for the 2019 American Philosophical Association Sanders Book Prize. Her influential publications include 'Quantifying the Gender Gap: An Empirical Study of the Underrepresentation of Women in Philosophy' (2012), 'Neuroscience and the Multiple Realization of Cognitive Functions' (2010), '(When) Is Science Reporting Ethical? The Case for Recognizing Shared Epistemic Responsibility in Science Journalism' (2017), and recent articles such as 'Individuating Cognitive Characters: Lessons from Praying Mantises and Plants' (2024), 'What Are We Talking About When We Talk About Cognition? Human, Cybernetic, and Phylogenetic Conceptual Schemes' (2024), and 'Why Plant Cognition Is Not (Yet) Out of the Woods' (2024). With over 785 citations, her scholarship shapes debates in cognitive science, philosophy of mind, and ethics. Figdor received a $234,000 grant from the Templeton World Charity Foundation in 2023 to investigate proper names in bonobo and dolphin communication. She held the American Philosophical Association Edinburgh Fellowship (2019-2020) and an Honorary Fellowship at the University of Edinburgh (2020-2021), and was awarded Honorary Professor status at the University of Edinburgh School of Philosophy, Psychology, and Language Sciences for 2025-2027. She has contributed editorials on epistemology in science journalism and participated in public lectures and online series.