Mariel Goddu

I’m interested in issues at the intersection of philosophy of mind, action, and biology. I’m a former cognitive developmental psychologist (PhD UC Berkeley, 2020), and I also work in philosophy of cognitive science. I continue to consult on select research projects in developmental & comparative psychology. 

My current philosophical projects: 1. Examine cognition from the perspective of evolutionary biology (What are ‘cognitive homologies’?), 2. Compare animal and plant cognition (Can plant behavior inform our picture of ‘the function of mind in nature’?), & 3. Critique the concept of “intuitive physics” as it is currently deployed in developmental, comparative, and computational psychology.

If I’m not doing philosophy, I’m probably working out, cooking something, consuming German media, talking to a scientist, or camping in my van, Goldie. 

You can find my CV here, PhilPeople here, & Bluesky here.

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Selected recent publications:

Krickel, B., & Goddu, M. K. (accepted). Cognitive ontology in terms of cognitive homology: The role of brain, behavior, and environment for individuating cognitive categories. In Piccinini, G. (Ed.) Neurocognitive foundations of mind. Routledge. (link)

Zettersten, M., Foushee, R., & Goddu, M. K. (in press). “Helpless" infants are active, goal-directed agents: Reply to Cusack et al. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. (link)

Goddu, M. K. (2025) It’s not a point of view, it’s a point of do. Aeon (link)

Goddu, M. K.*, Noë, A.*, & Thompson, E.* (2024). LLMs don’t know anything: reply to Yildirim and Paul. Trends in Cognitive Sciences. (link)

Goddu, M. K., & Gopnik, A. (2024). The development of human causal learning and reasoning. Nature Reviews Psychology, 1-21. (link)