Nico Orlandi – Professor, UCSC

I am a philosopher of mind and of cognitive science at the University of California at Santa Cruz. My work draws on the history of philosophy and on contemporary research in cognitive psychology, neuroscience, and in computer science. I am currently working on a project on concepts -- what they are and how we learn them -- with a particular focus on concepts of social categories.

In the past, my research has focused on perception -- what kind of capacity it is, what it presupposes, and what kind of relationship it affords with the environment. In my first monograph, I developed an anti-constructivist account of perception that contrasts with philosophical and psychological orthodoxy. I also have projects that concern (a) Bayesian and predictive coding models of perception; (b) the significance of fMRI research for understanding cognition (with a particular focus on the gender literature) and; (c) Social ontology. I have additional interests in epistemology, in aesthetics, and I am affiliated with the Feminist Studies department at UCSC.

I received my Phd in 2007 under the supervision of Bill Lycan. Before moving to UC Santa Cruz in 2014, I spent a few years as an Assistant Professor in the Philosophy Department at Rice University where, in 2011, I received a Phi Beta Kappa teaching award. I spent one year as a Fellow at the Stanford Humanities Center in 2012. I was a visiting researcher at the Riken Laboratory for Perceptual Dynamics in Tokyo, Japan (2010), at the Institut Jean Nicod in Paris, France (2016), and at the Rotman Institute in London, Ontario (2019). I am fortunate to sometimes co-author with Geoff Lee, and with JJ Dinishak, and to collaborate on campus with Jason Samaha. I supervised the PhD thesis of Jordan Dopkins who graduated in 2023. I am currently supervising Philip Groth and Somreeta Paul.

I have also worked closely with undergraduates: Sam Ayele.

I am originally from Italy. I was born in Siena and did my undergraduate in Florence. I am a first generation University student.

Contact: norlandi@ucsc.edu