Dr. phil.

Sabrina Coninx

Philosopher

I am currently located at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam as the Assistant Professor for Philosophy of Neuroscience. Before that, I worked at Ruhr University Bochum as a postdoctoral researcher and scientific coordinator of the Research Training Group Situated Cognition (founded by the German Research Foundation). 

I obtained a PhD in philosophy at the Ruhr University Bochum under the supervision of Albert Newen and Colin Klein. During my PhD, I spent three months at the University of Memphis, working with Shaun Gallagher, and two months at the Australian National University in Canberra, working with Colin Klein. After my PhD, I was allowed to visit Frédérique de Vignemont at the Institut Jean Nicod in Paris, Kevin Reuter at University of Zürich, and Somogy Varga at Aarhus University.

I obtained a Master degree in philosophy and a Bachelor degree in philosophy and psychology at the University of Bonn.

Please see my biography for more information. You may find me on Philpaper, Researchgate, Academia, and Twitter.

Research

My research is located in the empirically orientated philosophy of mind. That is, I am interested in multiple core aspects of the philosophy of mind while taking into account findings from neuroscience, psychology, biology, and clinical medicine.

My research focuses on mental phenomena related to human suffering which appears to me as one of the most enigmatic, but also fascinating research subjects. I have intensively worked on pain and other bodily sensations. My research encompasses the phenomenal character, neural implementation, causal embeddedness, and biological function of these mental phenomena. My investigations relate to topics, such as the construction of quality spaces, the challenges of intentionalism, and the debate surrounding scientific eliminativism.

Recently, I have extended my field of research to different kinds of suffering and developed multiple follow-up projects located at the interface of philosophy and clinical medicine. This includes a better understanding of how to model suffering in chronic illness and how to best approach it by means of therapeutical measures. Core concepts of situated cognition are proving to be increasingly influential in such research (e.g. affordances, scaffolding, niche construction).

Another research area of mine is the philosophy of social understanding, especially the plurality of epistemic strategies and the role of mindreading. Furthermore, I am currently exploring the relevance of experimental philosophy with respect to pain reports.

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Areas of Specialisation

Philosophy of Mind

Neuro-philosophy

Philosophy of Cognitive Science

Situated Cognition

Social Cognition

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Areas of Interest

Philosophy of Psychiatry

Experimental Philosophy

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Research Topics

Phenomenal Quality

Quality Spaces

Intentionalism

Functionalism

Identity Theory

Scientific Eliminativism

Scientific Integration

Field of Affordances

Scaffolding

Niche Construction

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Research Subjects

Pain

Bodily Sensations

Human Suffering

Emotions

Depression

Affective Disorders

Mind Shaping & Invasion

Mindreading

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News

All the latest news concerning research projects, publications, talks, & collaborations

Research & Publications

Detailed description of research projects & related publications

Biography

Information about my academic career, educational background, funding, & grants

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Talks

List of selected talks & other conference contributions

Academic Activities

Teaching, conference organization, & administrative work

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.