RESEARCH INTERESTS
My research focuses primarily on early modern (i.e., 17th and 18th century) theories of mind and concepts. More specifically, I am interested in empiricist and rationalist different approaches to philosophical and psychological questions such as: the mind’s cognitive architecture; the nature and acquisition of concepts; and their accounts of consciousness. I have written primarily on Descartes, Locke and, more recently, Malebranche.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
(see CV for complete list)
Books
2010, Descartes and the Puzzle of Sensory Representation, Oxford University Press (Hardcover). Paperback Edition in Fall 2013. https://www.amazon.com/Descartes-Puzzle-Sensory-Representation-Raffaella/dp/019957037X
Peer Reviewed Articles:
- 2017 “Descartes and the Curious Case of the Origin of Sensory Ideas” in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Volume 97, Issue 3. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/phpr.12421
- 2015 “René Descartes: Sensory Representations.” In Oxford Bibliographies in Philosophy. Ed. Duncan Pritchard. New York: Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/OBO/9780195396577-0272 https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396577/obo-9780195396577-0272.xml
- 2013 “Descartes’ Causal Principle and the Case of Body-to-Mind Causation” in Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Vol.43, No.4, 438-459. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-philosophy/article/abs/descartes-causal-principle-and-the-case-of-bodytomind-causation/39970D86D2250068C6AE3597D6EF9909
- 2011 “Rethinking the Ontology of Cartesian Essences” in British Journal for the History of Philosophy, Vol.19, 4, July 2011, pp.605-622. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09608788.2011.583414
- 2009 “Cartesian Sensations” in Philosophy Compass, Volume 4, Issue 5, September 2009, pp. 780-792. https://compass.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-9991.2009.00252.x
- 2008 “Descartes on Mathematical Essences”, [co-authored with Otávio Bueno], in Protosociology. An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, Vol.25, 2008, pp. 160-180. https://www.pdcnet.org/protosociology/content/protosociology_2008_0025_0160_0177
The volume is also published by Ontos Verlag http://www.ontos-verlag.de/Buchreihen-LOGOS-978-3-86838-009-5.php
- 2007 “The Myth of Cartesian Qualia”, in Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Vol.88, Issue 2, 2007, pp. 181-207. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-0114.2007.00286.x
- 2007 “A Teleological Account of Cartesian Sensations?” in Synthese, Vol. 156, 2007, pp. 317-342. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11229-006-0010-4
- 2005 “Prinz’s Problematic Proxytypes”, in The Philosophical Quarterly, Vol.55, No. 221, 2005, pp. 595-606. https://academic.oup.com/pq/article-abstract/55/221/594/1503843?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false
- 2004 “Descartes on Sensory Misrepresentation: the Case of Materially False Ideas”, in the History of Philosophy Quarterly, Vol.21, n3, 2004, pp. 261-280. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27744992
- 2004 “The Question-Begging Status of Locke’s Anti-Nativist Arguments”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Vol.69, n1, 2004, pp. 37-64. ATTACH PDF
- 2000 “On Fodor’s Claim that Classical Empiricists and Rationalists Agree on the Innateness of Ideas”, in ProtoSociology. An International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, Vol.14, 2000, pp. 240-269. https://www.pdcnet.org/protosociology/content/protosociology_2000_0014_0240_0269
Invited contributions
- 2016 “Locke’s Critique of Innatism” in Matthew Stuart (ed.), in The Blackwell Companion to Locke, Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 157-174.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9781118328705.ch8
- 2004 “Quine’s Holisms” [co-authored with Ernest Lepore], in Roger Gibson (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Quine, Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 65-90. Reprinted in Nirmalaya Narayan Chakraborty and Madhucchanda Sen (eds) Empiricism and The Two Dogmas, Rabindra Bharati University, 2006, pp.18-45. ATTACH PDF
- 1999 “Is There a Problem about Davidson’s Externalism vis-à-vis His Holism?”, in M. De Caro (ed.), Interpretations and Causes. New Perspectives on Donald Davidson’s Philosophy, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999, pp. 201-216. ATTACH PDF
