Concise CV - Yakir Levin Research Interests My research interests ...

Concise CV - Yakir Levin
Research Interests
My research interests in recent years have been early-modern philosophy,
metaphysics and philosophy of mind. In particular, I am interested in the intricate
connections between the scholastic world view, which dominated the intellectual
scene in Europe from the 13 th century up to the 17 th century, and the mechanistic
world view, which grew up and developed in the 17 th and 18 th centuries, and is at the
basis of the modern view of the world. In addition, I have an ongoing interest in the
theoretical philosophy of Kant and in its implications to contemporary philosophy of
mind. I am also interested in conceptual and methodological issues concerning the
interface between psychology and neuroscience. Finally, I have a special interest in
philosophical issues concerning cognitive ethology and the psychology of animals.
Education
After receiving a PhD in philosophy from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem I was a
Chevening Post-Doctoral Fellow at Oxford University, a Golda Meir Post-Doctoral
Fellow at the Hebrew University, and an Edelstein Post-Doctoral Fellow at the
Edelstein Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and
Medicine at the Hebrew University. In addition, I was a visiting scholar at Harvard
University.
Teaching
A Selection of Courses that I Taught in Recent Years
Leibniz: The Theodicy and Other Writings
Self-Knowledge
Thomas Aquinas on Human Nature
God, Man and World: Basic Issues in Metaphysics
Wild Minds: On the Mental Life of Animals
Transcendental Idealism
Kant's Thinker: Kant on the Self. Consciousness and Self-Consciousness
Origins of Objectivity

Recent Presentations in International Conferences
"The Coherence and Unity of Spinoza's Account of Reason, Freedom and the
Affects", Israel-Atlantic Canada Seminar in Early Modern Philosophy, Van
Leer Institute and Tel Aviv University
"Kant, McDowell and the Identity of Identity and Nonidentity", Kantian Themes in
Analytic Philosophy, Ben Gurion University and Tel Aviv University
"Act-Rationality, Rule-Rationality and Economic Theory", Re-Thinking Rationality,
Ben-Gurion University and the Center for Rationality and Interactive Decision
Making at The Hebrew University (paper presented by my co-author, Arnon
Cahen)
"Spinoza's Substance Monism", Spinoza and his Readers, Van Leer Institute,
Jerusalem
“Metaphysics, Mind and Neurobiology“, Appliquer la métaphysique, Fondation des
Treilles, France
"Dualism and its Discontents", Self, Culture and Identity, Kolkata, India.
“The Scope and Limits of Neuroeconomics’ Main Research Strategy”,
Neuroeconomics: Hype or Hope? Erasmus University, Rotterdam, Holland
International Conferences that I Co-Organized in Recent Years
Regret, Emotions and Decision Making
Re-Thinking Rationality
Recent Publications
Books
Levin, Y. 14 Metaphysical Etudes (Tel Aviv: Resling, 2011) (in Hebrew)
Papers
Levin, Y, Cahen, A. and Aharon, I. "Naturalized Rationality, Evolutionary Psychology
and Economic Theory", Journal of Cognition and Neuroethics, 1 (2013): 39-
72.
Levin, Y. "Spinoza's Substance Monism", Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy,
15 (2013): 366-384.
Levin, Y. “Descartes on Mistake, Epistemic Certainty and Truth”, Iyyun, 60 (2011),
358-366. (in Hebrew)
Levin, Y. and Aharon, I. “What’s on your Mind? A Brain Scan Won’t Tell”, Review of
Philosophy and Psychology, 2 (2011): 699-722.