Arno Wouters

Teacher theoretical philosophy

Position

I work as a temporary teacher in the theoretical philosophy group at the Department of Philosophy of Utrecht University (from 1 September 2008 up to 1 February 2009). I stand in for Menno Lievers, who has suddenly become ill.

Profile

I studied biology at Wageningen University and philosophy at Groningen University. I worked as junior researcher ('onderzoeker in opleiding') philosophy of science at Utrecht University (1989-1994) and obtained my PhD from that university in 1998. My dissertation, titled 'Explanation without a cause', discusses the different kinds of explanation in functional biology and the different types of function that play a role in these explanations.

• I taught and developed courses in almost all branches of theoretical philosophy: philosophy of science, elementary logic, philosophy of language, epistemology, philosophy of biology and philosophy of mind at the universities of Utrecht, Leiden and Nijmegen.
• I published many articles about the functional perspective in biology.
• I worked as a researcher in computer science for three years and taught courses such as 'Programming in C' and 'How a computer operates'

The past three years, I worked at the Radboud University Nijmegen as a teacher and researcher in the field of philosophical anthropology. My research concerned the implications of discoveries in the behavioral, cognitive and neurosciences for our view of man (especially of personal responsibility). My courses were about philosophy of mind and action. It was a temporary job, that ended on 31 July 2008.

As of 1 January 2009, I will work as a postdoc at the Erasmus University Rotterdam (for four years), in the context of the VIDI-project of Maureen Sie, titled "Conscious Control, Deliberative Awareness, and Moral Agency". This project aims to think through the implications of the paradigm of adaptive unconsciousness in social and moral psychology for philosophical action theory.

I am a mac enthusiast (I don't hate Windows, but that is probably only because I have never worked on that operating system).

How to reach me

Office:

Bestuursgebouw, room 161

Adress:

Department of Philosophy
Heidelberglaan 6
3584 CS Utrecht
The Netherlands

Phone:

+31 (0)30 253 5580

E-mail:

Please, do not send me HTML documents and, please, consult me in advance if you want to send me attachments.

Courses

• Filosofie van de cognitiewetenschappen 2008

More information

• My personal home page
• My page at the Radboud University
• My CV
• A list of my publications
• An annotated list of the software I use to get my work done

Recommended information and links

Especially for philosophy students, but many others may profit from it.

• Tips voor efficiënt e-mailgebruik (Arno Wouters, in Dutch)
• Hoe thuis electronische artikelen op te duiken (Saskia Polder). Instructies voor het ophalen van teksten uit electronische tijdschriften in de Universiteitsbibliotheek Utrecht.
• Wát je zegt en hóe je het zegt (Stephanie Roels & Bert van den Brink) - academische vaardigheden voor filosofen: lezen en schrijven van filosofische teksten, verantwoording van bronnen, mondelinge referaten, vragen stellen en discussiëren.
• Basic concepts of Microsoft Word (Shauna Kelly). Do not use MS Word if you do not have time to learn it. It takes several days to learn how to use Word - it costs you years, your face and your health, if you use it without understanding it. If you know already how to type in a word processor, start with concept 3: use styles to format text and read on -- you will always have problems with Word if you do not use styles consciously and consistently!
• Stop AutoFormat and its Evil Cousins (Daiya Mitchell). You will never be happy with MS Word if you do not disable all the irritating features Microsoft put there to impress first-time users. Don't hesitate. Do it. NOW!
• Bend Word to Your Will (Clive Huggan). The ultimate guide to using Word. Especially written for the Mac. Windows' users will be able to use it if they make a few mental adjustments when reading (the guide provides tips for making these adjustments).
• PDF Online converts Word Documents and many other formats to PDF for free. Never send anyone Word documents anymore.

This page was made by Arno Wouters.
E-mail:
Last Updated: 27-Nov-08.