Speaker: Joshua Myers (York University)
Joshua Myers is a philosopher working at the intersection of philosophy of mind and epistemology, with a focus on the imagination and other representations that occur outside of discursive thought.
He is currently a postdoc in the philosophy department at York University. Before that, he was a postdoc in the LOGOS Research Group at the University of Barcelona.
He got his Ph.D. in philosophy from New York University in 2023, supervised by Paul Boghossian, David Chalmers, and Jane Friedman. Before that, he got a B.A. in philosophy and psychology at the University of Miami.
Title
Imagination and Understanding
Abstract
Understanding is a valuable epistemic achievement. But what sort of mental state is one in when one possesses understanding? The dominant view says that understanding is wholly grounded in doxastic states such as beliefs. Against this orthodoxy, I will argue that understanding isn’t just a matter of what one believes, but is also a matter of what one can imagine. More specifically, I will motivate and defend the imaginative model of understanding, according to which there are states of understanding that are at least partially grounded in capacities for sensory imagination. I will also explore how to extend this model to practical forms of understanding. The result is a powerful and comprehensive account of understanding that brings the literatures on the epistemology of understanding and the epistemology of imagination into conversation with each other.
Everyone interested is welcome to attend.
The meeting will be held in English.
Participation is strongly recommended for students of the Doctoral School in Philosophy and Human Sciences and for students of the Doctoral School “The Human Mind and its Explanations: Language, Brain, and Reasoning”.
Where: Online
When: 07/10/2026 – 17:00 CET
Attendance: Attendance is free and open to all, but registration is needed by email [angelica.kaufmann@unimi.it]