dr. F.A. (Fred) Keijzer

I am Associate Professor at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. My Ph.D. from Leiden University in the Netherlands is in the field of cognitive science and philosophy. My main research interest consists of the embodied, situated and dynamical aspects of cognition and how these features impact on the notion of cognition itself. In 2002, I acquired a Vidi-grant for the project Recasting Cognition as Layered Agency to develop this theme. Currently, my main focus is on biological interpretations of cognition and agency. As bacteria already exhibit many characteristics that are habitually used to describe cognition, it makes sense to turn to fundamental biological cases for a better understanding of the cognitive domain. In addition, I recently (2010) published a book Filosofie van de toekomst (in Dutch) on the merits of reading science fiction for orienting ourselves as human beings in a rapidly changing world. I have published articles in Philosophical Psychology, Theory & Psychology, Cognitive Systems Research, Synthese and Adaptive Behavior, and another book Representation and Behavior (MIT Press, 2001).