Robert Lurz
Professor
Philosophy
Location: 3308 Boylan Hall
Phone: 718.951.5311
Fax: 718.951.4675
Email:
Robert Lurz is Professor of Philosophy at Brooklyn College, CUNY.
Education:
Ph.D., Temple University - 1998 (Philosophy)
Areas of Expertise:
Philosophical and scientific issues concerning animal consciousness, cognition and theory-of-mind; philosophical and scientific issues concerning consciousness.
Books and Publications
Lurz, R., Krachun, C., Hopkins, W., & Mareno, M. C. (2022). Do Chimpanzees Predict Others'
Department webmaster, Fall 2002-2006 2002
PSC-CUNY 50 Research Award 2019-2020 (Grants and Fellowships) 2019
Experience projection: Do chimpanzees use self-experience to understand seeing in others? Invited talk at Duke University, Philosophy Department (cosponsored by the Humanities Futures Initiative at the Franklin Humanities Institute) (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2017
Member, HSS Promotion & Tenure Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2014
Refereed paper submission for Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Psychology, Social Epistemology, Consciousness and Cognition and Psyche. 2007
Behavior by Simulating Their Beliefs? Animal Behavior and Cognition, 9, 153-175. https://www.animalbehaviorandcognition.org/issue.php?id=37
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2022
Lurz, R., Krachun, C., Hopkins, W., & Taglialatela, J. (2022). Evidence of psychological essentialism in a symbol-trained bonobo (Pan paniscus). International Journal of Primatology, 43, 235-252. doi.org/10.1007/s10764-021-00266-8 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2022
Robert Lurz & Vincent Andreassi (2021) Chimpanzees are mindreaders: On why they attribute seeing rather than sensing, Philosophical Psychology, DOI: 10.1080/09515089.2021.2016676. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2021
Krachun, C., Lurz, R., Mahovetz, L & Hopkins, W. (2019). Mirror self-recognition and its relationship to social cognition. Animal Cognition, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10071-019-01309-7
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2019
Lurz, R., & Krachun, C. (2019). Experience-Projection Methods in Theory-of-Mind Research: Their Limits and Strengths. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28, 456-462.
(Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2019
Samuel, S., Durdevic, K., Legg, E., Lurz, R. & Clayton, N. (2019). Is language required to represent others' mental states? Evidence from beliefs and other representations. Cognitive Science, 43, 1-8. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2019
Krachun, C. & Lurz, R. (2018). Appearance reality test. In Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior (Eds. J. Vonk & T. Shakelford). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1108-1. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2018
Lurz, R., Krachun, C., Mahovetz, L., Wilson, M., & Hopkins, W. (2018). Chimpanzees gesture to humans in mirrors: Using reflection to dissociate seeing from line of gaze. Animal Behaviour, 135, 239-249 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2018
"Animal mindreading: The problem and how it can be solved" In Andrews and Beck (Eds.) The Routledge Handbook of Philosophy of Animal Minds (pp. 229-237). New York: Routledge (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2017
Legg, E., Olivier, L., Samuel, S., Lurz, R., & Clayton, N. (2017). Error rate on the director's task is influenced by the need to take another's perspective but not the type of perspective. Royal Society Open Science, 4, 170284. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.170284. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
Samuel, S., Legg, E., Lurz, R., & Clayton, N. (2017). Egocentric bias across mental and non-
mental representations in the Sandbox Task. Quarterly Journal of Experimental
Psychology https://doi.org/10.1177/1747021817742367 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2017
Krachun, C. & Lurz, R. (2016). I know you see it wrong! Children use others' false perceptions to predict their behaviors. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 150, 380-395. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
Krachun, C., Lurz, R., Russell, J. & Hopkins, W. (2016). Smoke and mirrors: Testing the scope of chimpanzees appearance reality understanding. Cognition, 150, 53-67 (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2016
"Does Comparative Animal Cognition Need to Be Saved by Cognitive Modeling?" Southern Journal of Philosophy. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2014
Lurz, R., S. Kanet and C. Krachun. "Animal Mindreading: The Case for Optimistic Agnosticism." Mind & Language. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2014
"Belief Attribution in Animals: On How to Move Forward Conceptually and Empirically." Review of Philosophy and Psychology 2: 19-59. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
"Chimpanzees Attribute Beliefs? A New Approach to Answering an Old Nettled Question." Experiencing Animals: Encounters Between Animal and Human Minds. Eds. J. Smith and R. Mitchell. Columbia University Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2011
"How Could We Know Whether Nonhuman Primates Understand Others' Internal Goals and Intentions: Solving Povinelli's Problem." Review of Philosophy & Psychology. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2011
Mindreading Animals: The Debate Over What Animals Know About Other Minds. MIT Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Authored)) 2011
Review of Origins of Objectivity, by Tyler Burge. Philosophical Psychology. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2011
Review of Subjective Consciousness: A Self-representational Theory, by Uriah Kriegel. Grazer Philosophische Studien. (Books and Publications: Book Review) 2011
"Feigning Introspective Blindness" (commentary on Carruthers' BBS article, "How We Know Our Own Minds"). Brain and Behavioral Sciences 32.2: 153-54. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2009
"If Chimpanzees Are Mindreaders, Could Behavioral Science Tell? Toward a Solution to the Logical Problem." Philosophical Psychology 22: 305-28. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2009
The Philosophy of Animal Minds. Cambridge University Press. (Books and Publications: Book (Edited)) 2009
"Animal Minds." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Available at http://www.iep.utm.edu/a/ani-mind.htm. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2008
"In Defense of Wordless Thoughts About Thoughts." Mind and Language 22: 270-96. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2007
Review of Consciousness and Mind, by David Rosenthal. Mind 117: 214-17. (Books and Publications: Forthcoming Publications) 2007
"Conscious Beliefs and Desires: A Same-Order Approach." Self-Representational Approaches to Consciousness. Eds. U. Kriegel and K. Williford. MIT Press. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2006
Review of Thinking Without Words, by José Luis Bermúdez. Philosophical Inquiry 27: 133-36. (Books and Publications: Article (Other)) 2005
"Either FOR or HOR: A False Dichotomy." Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness. Ed. R. Gennaro. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 226-54. (Books and Publications: Book Chapter) 2004
"In Search of the Metaphor of the Mind: A Review Essay on Baars' In the Theater of
Consciousness." Philosophical Psychology 17: 297-307. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2004
"Advancing the Debate between HOT and FO Theories of Consciousness." Journal of Philosophical Research 28: 23-44. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2003
"Neither HOT nor COLD: An Alternative Account of Consciousness." Psyche 9. Available at http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v9/psyche-9-01-lurz.html. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2002
"Reducing Consciousness by Making it HOT: A Commentary on Carruthers' Phenomenal Consciousness." Psyche 8. Available at http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.
"Begging the Question: A Reply to Lycan." Analysis 61: 313-18. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2001
"How to Solve the Distinguishability Problem." Brain and Behavioral Sciences 24.6: 1142-43. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2001
"Taking the First-Person Approach." Psyche 7. Available at http://psyche.cs.
"A Defense of First-Order Representational Theories of Mental-State Consciousness." Psyche 6. Available at http://psyche.cs.monash.edu.au/v6/psyche-6-01-lurz.html. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 2000
"Animal Consciousness." Journal of Philosophical Research 24: 149-68. (Books and Publications: Article (Peer-reviewed)) 1999
Creative Work
Awards, Honors and Fellowships
47 PSC-CUNY Research Award for $5845.78 (Grants and Fellowships) 2016
HSS minigrant for travel and research, $700. (Grants and Fellowships) 2015
Tow Faculty Travel Fellowship, for "Theory-of-mind and Perspective-taking in Chimpanzees and Bonobos." $4,300. (Grants and Fellowships) 2015
HSS Minigrant, for travel/lodging while conducting research at Language Research Center (GSU). $1,000. (Grants and Fellowships) 2014
NEH Summer Stipend Award. (Awards and Honors) 2010
Provost's Committee on Reassigned Time to Pursue Scholarly and Creative Projects. This award provides six credit hours of reassigned time for the spring semester. (Awards and Honors) 2008
PSC-CUNY 38 Research Award, 2007-08. (Awards and Honors) 2007
PSC-CUNY 37 Research Award, 2006-07. (Awards and Honors) 2006
PSC-CUNY 36 Research Award, 2005-06. (Awards and Honors) 2005
PSC-CUNY 35 Research Award, 2004-05. (Awards and Honors) 2004
PSC-CUNY 34 Research Award, 2003-04. (Awards and Honors) 2003
Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums
Appearance-reality discrimination, introspection and theory-of-mind in chimpanzees
The 2016 Michael P. Malone Conference: Animal Consciousness and Knowledge
Montana State University
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
Appearance-reality discrimination, introspection, and theory-of-mind in chimpanzees, invited talk at Ethical Theories and the Animal Issue: Between Science and Philosophy at University of Milan, Italy. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
The logical problem in ape theory of mind: Solving it with mirrors
Probing Practices of Psychological Attribution Symposium,
Cambridge University, UK
(Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2016
"Disambiguating the Ambiguous: Do Apes Use Perspective-taking to Resolve Referential Ambiguity?" Comparative Cognition Society. Melbourne, Fla. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2015
"Testing Conscious and Cognition in Apes." Expression, Communication, and Origins of Meaning (ECOM) Research Group. Department of Philosophy, University of Connecticut. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"Testing Consciousness and Cognition in Apes and Octopuses." Brooklyn College Psychology Colloquium. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2014
"Do Animals Attribute Internal Goals? A Question of Animal Mindreading." Mindreading, Understanding, and Emotion Conference. University of North Carolina. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Do Apes Understand the Desires of Others? A Question of Animal Mindreading." Rowan University. Glassboro, N.J., April. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Is Adaptive Use of Commentary Keys Evidence of Monkey Metacognition? A Logical Problem." Society for Philosophy and Psychology. March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2013
"What Do Apes Know About Appearance, Reality, and the Mind?" The New School for Social Research. New York. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"What Do Philosophers Think About Animal Minds?" Thinking Animals Symposium. Hunter College (CUNY). New York, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2013
"Comments on John Sarnecki's paper, 'Our Quarry Ourselves.'" Southern Society for Philosophy and Psychology meeting. Atlanta. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2010
"How to Test Belief Attribution in Chimpanzees: A New Experimental Approach." Joint Attention Conference. Bentley College. Boston. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2009
"Do Some Animals Have Human Minds? Mindreading in Nonhuman Animals." Exploring the Animal/Human Boundary Symposium, Faculty Day. Brooklyn College. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
"If Chimpanzees Are Mindreaders, Could Behavioral Science Tell? Toward a Solution of the Logical Problem." The Minds of Animals: Conceptions from the Humanities, Sciences, and Popular Culture. Toronto University. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Conference Presentation) 2008
"Do Some Animals Have Human Minds? Mindreading in Nonhuman Animals." Phi Beta Kappa induction ceremony. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"Three Recipes for the Mind: How to Make Consciousness by Heating Up (or Cooling Down) Thought." Philosophy Society, Brooklyn College. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2007
"Wordless Thoughts and Their Supposed Limits." APA Pacific Division. March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2006
"Consciousness and the Representational Theory of Mind: An Overview of the Philosophical Debate." Asian American / Asian Research Institute. September. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
Commentator on Joseph Levine's talk at the Self-Representational Theories of Consciousness Conference. Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona, March. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Invited Talk) 2005
"Philosophy of Mind and AI: Why Being a Computer Isn't Sufficient for Having Conscious Thought." Faculty Day. Brooklyn College. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2004
"Either FOR or HOR: A False Dichotomy." Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness. University of Memphis. (Conferences, Seminars and Symposiums: Contributed Talk) 2003
Professional Leadership
Member, Promotion to Associate Professor Committee, Division of Humanities. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2007
Deputy chairman, Department of Philosophy, Spring 2004-Fall 2006. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2006
Member, Department Appointments Committee. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2006
Participant, Outcomes Assessment for New Core, fall. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2006
Member, Core Curriculum Committee, Spring 2005-Spring 2006. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2005
Member, department ad-hoc committee in charge of writing application for Writing Intensive (WI) designation for major. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2005
Member, Department Outcome Assessment Committee, Spring 2005-present. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2005
Member, Strategic Plan Subcommittee (Teaching), spring. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2005
Read and evaluated CUNY Honors College applications, spring. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2005
Lurz, Robert and Aaron Kozbelt, co-leaders. Three seminars for faculty on the science of learning, which provided them with some of the latest findings in cognitive science on retention, retrieval, transfer and metacognition, and generated a lively and high-level discussion on teaching. The seminars were sponsored by the Center for Teaching and the Provost's Office. Fall. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2004
Member, ad-hoc Writing across the Curriculum Committee, summer. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2004
Member, task force to review and develop education models. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2004
Member, Writing Across the Curriculum Committee, fall. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2004
Participant, working dinner about New Strategic Plan for 2005-10, April. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2004
Volunteer, student recruitment effort: Contacted 25 accepted students in order to encourage them to attend Brooklyn College, fall and spring. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2004
"Do Some Animals Have Human Minds?" PowerPoint presentation. Brooklyn College Alumni Day. (Professional Leadership: Public Service) 2003
Chairman, Arrangements & Calendar Committee, Fall 2003-present; member, Fall 2002 and Spring 2003. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2003
Co-creator and co-organizer, Brooklyn College Cognitive Science Colloquium, an interdisciplinary forum on the mind that is held biannually at Brooklyn College. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2003
Co-leader, New Faculty Workshops, "Science of Learning," at the Center for Teaching. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2003
Delegate to Faculty Council, Fall 2003-Spring 2006. (Professional Leadership: Committee Service) 2003
Participant, open house for freshman students, May 29 and Nov. 20. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2003
Adviser, Philosophy Society, Fall 2002 and Spring 2003. (Professional Leadership: Organizational Leadership Position) 2002
Other Professional Activities
Refereed book manuscripts for MIT Press and McGraw-Hill. 2006
