Mariel Goddu

What is "seeing an opportunity for action"? I take this question as a starting point for developing a metaphysics of mind that might take us closer to understanding how the things that are minds––and the living organisms who seem to "have," "possess," or "be the locus" of them––are related to the rest of reality as we know it.

Recognizing opportunities for action is what cognition evolved to do. In contrast to plants with roots and leaves, moving organisms are faced with the task of coordinating their bodies––including their motor movements, motivational systems, and "internal representations" (whatever those are)––with the environment outside. This is due to their fundamental existential predicament: they must constantly be closing the gap between themselves and the stuff they need to survive. (Poetically, they must "be the change you wish to see in the world.")

In my work, I aim to synthesize topics at the intersection of Philosophy of Action, Philosophy of Biology, and Modality (both Epistemology & Metaphysics) to develop a naturalistically grounded & phylogenetically committed approach to Philosophy of Cognition where the process of "affordance recognition" (another way of glossing "recognizing opportunities for action") plays a central role. I am also interested in linking 'evo devo' approaches in developmental biology to topics in (comparative) cognitive development. And I have a nascent interest in causation in nonlinear dynamical systems (e.g., between variables in an attractor).

From 2012-2022, I conducted scientific research in early human cognitive development (PhD, UC Berkeley 2020). My empirical work focused on the development of causal and modal reasoning in children aged 1-5 years old (and a handful of chimpanzees). 

Currently, I am an Alexander von Humboldt postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Advanced Study in the Humanities: "Human Abilities" & the Institut für Philosophie, Freie Universität Berlin.

My CV is here.