Draft:Robert Van Gulick
Philosopher and Syracuse University professor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Van Gulick is a philosopher and professor in the Department of Philosophy at Syracuse University. His work focuses on the philosophy of mind and philosophy of cognitive science, especially consciousness, self-awareness, and functionalism.[1][2] He is the author of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry "Consciousness", first published in 2004 and substantively revised in 2014.[2] In discussions of higher-order theories of consciousness, independent reference works have associated him with the "Higher-Order Global States" (HOGS) model.[3][4]
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University of California, Berkeley (MA, PhD)
George Myro
Eleanor Rosch
Robert Van Gulick | |
|---|---|
| Education | |
| Education | Princeton University (AB) University of California, Berkeley (MA, PhD) |
| Thesis | 'Functionalism as a Theory of Mind' (1976) |
| Doctoral advisor | H. Paul Grice George Myro Eleanor Rosch |
| Philosophical work | |
| Era | Contemporary philosophy |
| Region | Western philosophy |
| Institutions | Syracuse University Rutgers University |
| Main interests | Philosophy of mind, consciousness, self-awareness, functionalism, philosophy of cognitive science |
| Notable works | Consciousness John Searle and his Critics |
| Notable ideas | Higher-Order Global States (HOGS) |
| Website | artsandsciences |
Education and career
Van Gulick received an A.B. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1970. He earned an M.A. in 1973 and a Ph.D. in philosophy in 1976 from the University of California, Berkeley. His dissertation was titled Functionalism as a Theory of Mind; his advisors were H. Paul Grice, George Myro, and Eleanor Rosch.[5]
He was assistant professor of philosophy at Rutgers University from 1976 to 1984, and joined Syracuse University in 1984. He became professor of philosophy there in 1995 and has served as director of the Cognitive Science Program. He was also William P. Tolley Distinguished Professor in the Humanities from 2008 to 2010.[5][6]
Van Gulick served as president of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology in 2002; he had previously served as its secretary-treasurer from 1988 to 1991 and as program chair for its 1986 annual meeting.[7]
Philosophical work
Van Gulick's work has centered on theories of consciousness, the relation between consciousness and self-awareness, and the place of consciousness within broadly physicalist and naturalistic accounts of mind.[2][3]
The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy describes Van Gulick's Higher-Order Global States (HOGS) model as an account on which a lower-order mental state becomes conscious as part of a larger global state involving implicit self-awareness.[3] The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on higher-order theories likewise discusses Van Gulick's view as an integrated or global-state approach within debates over higher-order and self-representational theories of consciousness.[4]
In a 2022 editorial in Review of Philosophy and Psychology, Van Gulick's contribution to a special issue on self-consciousness was described as sketching a theory that combines his HOGS model with global neuronal workspace theory and develops a "virtual-self integration" model of the conscious self.[8]
His publications have also addressed functionalism, the explanatory role of consciousness, the relation between intentionality and phenomenal consciousness, and reduction and emergence in the mind-body problem.[9][10][11][12]
Selected publications
- Lepore, Ernest; Van Gulick, Robert, eds. (1991). John Searle and his Critics. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
- Van Gulick, Robert (1988). "A Functionalist Plea for Self-Consciousness". The Philosophical Review. 97 (2): 149–181. doi:10.2307/2185260.
- Van Gulick, Robert (1989). "What Difference Does Consciousness Make?". Philosophical Topics. 17 (1): 211–230. doi:10.5840/philtopics198917119.
- van Gulick, Robert (1995). "How Should We Understand the Relation Between Intentionality and Phenomenal Consciousness?". Philosophical Perspectives. 9: 271–289. doi:10.2307/2214222.
- Van Gulick, Robert (2001). "Reduction, Emergence and Other Recent Options on the Mind/Body Problem: A Philosophic Overview". Journal of Consciousness Studies. 8 (9–10): 1–34.
- Van Gulick, Robert (2004). "HOGS (Higher-Order Global States): An Alternative Higher-Order Model of Consciousness". In Gennaro, Rocco J. (ed.). Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins. pp. 67–92. doi:10.1075/aicr.56.06gul.
- Van Gulick, Robert (2014). "Consciousness". In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved March 22, 2026.
- Van Gulick, Robert (2009). "Functionalism". In McLaughlin, Brian P.; Beckermann, Ansgar; Walter, Sven (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Mind. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 128–151.
- Van Gulick, Robert (2012). "Subjective consciousness and self-representation". Philosophical Studies. 159 (3): 457–465. doi:10.1007/s11098-011-9765-7.
- Van Gulick, Robert (2013). "Rival Views of Consciousness and Self-Awareness". Journal of Consciousness Studies. 20 (11–12): 51–68.
- Van Gulick, Robert (2014). "Getting it All Together – Phenomenal Unity and the Self". Analysis. 74 (3): 491–498. doi:10.1093/analys/anu065.
- Van Gulick, Robert (2022). "Consciousness and Self-awareness—an Alternative Perspective". Review of Philosophy and Psychology. 13 (2): 329–340. doi:10.1007/s13164-022-00622-4.