Alva Noë (; born 1964) is an American philosopher. He is Professor of Philosophy at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. The focus of his work is the theory of perception and consciousness. In addition to these problems in

cognitive science Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary, scientific study of the mind and its processes. It examines the nature, the tasks, and the functions of cognition (in a broad sense). Mental faculties of concern to cognitive scientists include percep ...

and the

philosophy of mind Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the Body (biology), body and the Reality, external world. The mind–body problem is a paradigmatic issue in philosophy of mind, although a ...

, he is interested in analytic phenomenology, the

theory of art A theory of art is intended to contrast with a definition of art. Traditionally, ''definitions'' are composed of necessary and sufficient conditions, and a single counterexample overthrows such a definition. ''Theorizing'' about art, on the othe ...

Ludwig Wittgenstein Ludwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein ( ; ; 26 April 1889 – 29 April 1951) was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. From 1929 to 1947, Witt ...

enactivism Enactivism is a position in cognitive science that argues that cognition arises through a dynamic interaction between an acting organism and its environment. It claims that the environment of an organism is brought about, or enacted, by the active ...

, and the origins of

analytic philosophy Analytic philosophy is a broad movement within Western philosophy, especially English-speaking world, anglophone philosophy, focused on analysis as a philosophical method; clarity of prose; rigor in arguments; and making use of formal logic, mat ...

Education

Noë received his B.A. from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. He also holds a B.Phil. from the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

and a Ph.D. from

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Philosophical work

Noë joined the

Department of Philosophy as an associate professor in 2003, where he was a member of the UC Berkeley Institute for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, serving as a core faculty member for the Program in Cognitive Science and the Center for New Media. During 2011–2012, he was Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the

Graduate Center of the City University of New York The Graduate School and University Center of the City University of New York (CUNY Graduate Center) is a public research institution and postgraduate university in New York City. Formed in 1961 as Division of Graduate Studies at City University ...

. Before coming to University of California, Berkeley, Noë was an assistant professor of philosophy at

University of California, Santa Cruz The University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz or UCSC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Cruz, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses in the University of C ...

. He has been a Post-doctoral Research Associate of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, a visiting scholar at the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science at University of California, Irvine and at the Institut Jean-Nicod (CNRS/EN/EHESS) in Paris, a McDonnell-Pew Visiting Fellow at the Oxford Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, and a visiting scholar at the Center for Subjectivity Research at the University of Copenhagen. Noë has been a recipient of a UC President's Fellowship in the Humanities and an ACLS/Ryskamp Fellowship, and in 2007–2008 was a research fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. Noë is the author of the books ''Strange Tools'' (2015),''Varieties of Presence'' (2012), ''Out of Our Heads'' (2009) and ''Action In Perception'' (

MIT Press The MIT Press is the university press of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The MIT Press publishes a number of academic journals and has been a pioneer in the Open Ac ...

, 2004). He is the co-editor of ''Vision and Mind: Selected Readings in the Philosophy of Perception'' (MIT Press, 2002) and the author of ''Is the Visual World a Grand Illusion?'' (Imprint Academic, 2002). In ''Action In Perception'', Noë puts forth the notion of the sensorimotor profile.

Externalism Externalism is a group of positions in the philosophy of mind which argues that the conscious mind is not only the result of what is going on inside the nervous system (or the brain), but also what ''occurs'' or ''exists'' outside the subject. It ...

about the mind and mental content is a pervasive theme in his work.

Personal life

Noë is the son of the architect, sculptor and restaurateur Hans Noë, the former proprietor of the Fanelli Cafe. His mother Judith Baldwin is a ceramicist. His brother Sasha is a sculptor and has taken over running the Fanelli Cafe.

References

External links

Interview with Noë on NYC radioWhy You Are Not Your Brain? A Conversation on Consciousness with Alva Noe, Ph.D. Bridging the Gaps: A Portal for Curious Minds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Noe, Alva 1964 births Living people American philosophers of mind American cognitive scientists CUNY Graduate Center faculty University of California, Santa Cruz faculty University of California, Berkeley faculty Harvard University alumni Alumni of the University of Oxford Columbia College (New York) alumni