Bharath Vallabha: Curriculum Vitae

Education
Harvard University, Ph.D. in Philosophy, expected Spring 2008
Cornell University, B.A. in Philosophy, May 1999

Areas of Specialization
Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Action

Areas of Competence
Ethics, History of Analytic Philosophy, Phenomenology and Existentialism

Dissertation
Agency and the Mind-Body Problem
I defend the view that some skillful actions are a more basic form of cognition than thinking. I first argue that such actions are cognitive because they are constitutively related to consciousness. I then argue against the claim that all actions are in some sense guided by, and so presuppose, thinking. I distinguish two versions of this claim, causalism and conceptualism, and argue that causalism fails to capture how actions have aims, and that conceptualism over-intellectualizes skillful actions. An implication of my view is that it makes possible a naturalistic explanation of thinking in terms of skillful actions.

Committee: Richard Moran (chair), Susanna Siegel, Peter Godfrey-Smith, Sean Kelly

Awards
Richard M. Martin Fellowship, Harvard Philosophy Department             2006-2007
Mrs. Giles Whiting Fellowship in the Humanities                                     2005-2006
Derek Bok Center Teaching Award, Harvard University                        2005
Graduate Society Summer Fellowship, Harvard University                     2002
Graduate Student Prize Fellowship, Harvard University                         1999-2005

Presentations

APA, Pacific Division
Comments on Rene Jagnow's “Disappearing Appearances” April 2007

Harvard Workshop in Metaphysics and Epistemology
The Irreducibility of Consciousness                                                       Spring 2007
Agency and the Nonconceptual Content of Perception                          Fall 2006
McDowell on Action and Second Nature                                              Spring 2006
Action without Inner Representations                                                    Spring 2005
Functionalism and the Ordinary                                                             Fall 2004
Dualism and the First-Person Perspective                                             Spring 2004
Anomalous Monism and the Practical Standpoint                                  Fall 2003
Dualism and the Zombie Argument                                                       Fall 2003

Harvard Workshop in Moral and Political Philosophy
Agency and Self-Consciousness Fall 2005

Teaching Experience (all courses at Harvard University )

Tutorial Leader. tutorials are semester long seminars for 5-6 undergraduate philosophy majors. I was responsible for the entire course, including the syllabus, leading weekly discussions and grading papers.

Personal Identity                                                                                   Fall 2004
Wilfred Sellars                                                                                      Fall 2004
J.L. Austin                                                                                            Spring 2004
Existentialism                                                                                        Spring 2004
Physicalism                                                                                           Fall 2003
Phenomenology                                                                                    Spring 2003
Ryle and the Concept of Mind                                                              Spring 2003

Teaching Assistant. I was responsible for weekly sections and grading papers.

Introduction to Philosophy, Andreas Teuber                                          Summer 2007
Moral Reasoning about Social Protest, Susanna Siegel                          Spring 2007
Philosophy of Mind, Peter Godfrey-Smith                                             Spring 2005
Frege, Peter Hylton                                                                              Fall 2002
Metaphysics, Jeff King                                                                         Fall 2002
Self, Freedom and Existence, Richard Moran                                       Spring 2002
Later Philosophy of Wittgenstein, Warren Goldfarb                               Fall 2001

Graduate Courses (* audit)

Metaphysics and Epistemology
Concepts, Richard Heck*
Demonstratives, Susanna Siegel
Evolution and Cognition, Peter Godfrey-Smith*
Evolution and Social Behavior, Peter Godfrey-Smith*
Logic and Philosophy, Warren Goldfarb
McDowell (Second Year Paper), Richard Heck
Meaning and Communication, Richard Heck
Philosophy of Action, Doug Lavin*
Philosophy of Psychology, Charles Travis*
Rationality and Irrationality, Matthew Boyle*
Space, Substance and Self, Matthew Boyle*

Ethics and Aesthetics
Aesthetics, Richard Moran
Kant's Ethical Theory, Christine Korsgaard
Practical Reason, Christine Korsgaard*
Rawls (First Year Seminar), Richard Heck
Williams (First Year Seminar), Tim Scanlon

History of Philosophy
Frege, Russell and the Early Wittgenstein, Warren Goldfarb
Kant's Critique of Pure Reason , Charles Parsons*
Merleau-Ponty, Sean D. Kelly*
Phenomenology, Charles Parsons
Pragmatism, Peter Godfrey-Smith*
The Continental Rationalists, Alison Simmons
The Early Hegel, Susan Hahn

Academic Service
Graduate Advisor, The Harvard Review of Philosophy                      2005-2007
Harvard Graduate Representative to the Philosophy Faculty                  2002-2003
Harvard Philosophy Department Colloquium Committee                       2002-2003
Philosophy Representative to Harvard Graduate Student Council          2000-2002

References
Committee
Richard Moran, moran@fas.harvard.edu.
Susanna Siegel, ssiegel@fas.harvard.edu.
Peter Godfrey-Smith, pgs@fas.harvard.edu.
Sean Kelly, sdkelly@fas.harvard.edu.

Other
Alva Noe, noe@berkeley.edu
Christine Korsgaard, korsgaar@fas.harvard.edu.
Matthew Boyle, boyle2@fas.harvard.edu