KURT L. SYLVAN
Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University
3 Seminary Place, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
ksylvan@philosophy.rutgers.edu

Areas of Specialization
Epistemology, Practical Reason, and Value Theory

Areas of Competence
Philosophy of Mind and Metaphysics.  (I've also taught Applied Ethics and Aesthetics.)

Education
Rutgers University, Ph.D. (expected) 2014
University of Iowa, B.A., summa cum laude, 2008

Publications
"Rationality and the Metaphysics of Group Agency."  Forthcoming in Episteme.
"The Place of Reasons in Epistemology" (with Ernest Sosa).  Forthcoming in the Oxford Handbook of Reasons and Normativity.

Works in Progress (Many soon to be posted. )
On the Normativity of Epistemic Rationality (my dissertation, written to be published as a book someday)
"The Place of Fittingness in the Analysis of Value"
"What Epistemic Value Cannot Be (If It Can Fix the Deontic Facts)."
"Why There Could Be No Dispute Between Reliabilists and Evidentialists."
"What Rationality Would Not Be (If the Factoring Account Were True)" 
"How Practical Rationality Is Not Interestingly Belief-Relative."
"Inferentialism, Pragmatism, and Circularity."

Honors and Fellowships
Excellence Fellowship, Rutgers University, 2008 - 2010; 2012 - 2013
Gustav Bergmann Prize, University of Iowa, 2008
Phi Beta Kappa, 2007

Teaching Experience
TA-ing: Jeff McMahan's Current Moral and Social Issues, Fall 2010
TA-ing: James Simmons' Introduction to Philosophy, Spring 2011
Full teaching: Introduction to Metaphysics, Summer 2011
Full teaching: Aesthetics of Film, Summer 2012

Other Work
Assistant Editor for Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Philosophical Issues and Nous, 2011 - 2012
Leader, Research Circle on Experience, Justification and Perceptual Content, Spring 2010
Leader, Research Circle on Rationality, Coherence Requirements and Normativity, Spring 2010
Leader, Research Circle on Epistemic Value and Normativity, Spring 2011
Co-Organizer, Blog for the Graduate Student Community at Rutgers
Co-Organizer, 2011 Princeton-Rutgers Graduate Conference

Graduate Coursework (* = audit)
Epistemology
Proseminar (in Epistemology and Mind) - Alvin Goldman
Seminar on Methodological Naturalism and Intuitions - Alvin Goldman
Seminar on Social Epistemology - Alvin Goldman
Survey in Epistemology - Ernest Sosa
Advanced Topics in Epistemology - Ernest Sosa
Seminar on Knowing How - Jason Stanley
*Seminar on Pragmatic Encroachment - Jason Stanley
*Seminar on Skepticism - Brian Weatherson
Independent Study on Rationality in Epistemology (with Alvin Goldman)
Independent Study on Experience, Foundational Justification and Perceptual Content (with Ernest Sosa)
Independent Study on Epistemic Value (with Ernest Sosa)

Practical Reason /  Metaethics
Seminar on Reasons for Action and Acting for a Reason - Ruth Chang and Derek Parfit
Independent Study on Formal Requirements of Rationality (with  Alvin Goldman)
Independent Study on Buckpassing Theories of Value (with Ruth Chang)

Normative Ethics
Survey in Ethical Theory - Holly Smith
Advanced Topics in Normative Ethics - Jeff McMahan and Derek Parfit

Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science
Proseminar (in Epistemology and Mind) - Alvin Goldman
Seminar in Philosophy of Mind - Jerry Fodor, Zenon Pylyshyn and Alan Leslie
*Mind and Language Seminar on Perception and Consciousness - Jesse Prinz and Ned Block
Proseminar in Cognitive Science - Zenon Pylyshyn

Metaphysics
Seminar on Fundamentality and Metametaphysics - Ted Sider (at NYU)
Seminar on the Metaphysics of Propositions - Jeffrey C. King
Seminar on Vagueness - Brian McLaughlin

Other
Seminar on Probability - Barry Loewer
Seminar on Hume's Treatise - Martha Bolton
Seminar on Non-Classical Logics - Brian Weatherson
Seminar on Ancient Skepticism - Robert Bolton

References
Ernest Sosa - Rutgers University
Ruth Chang - Rutgers University
Alvin Goldman - Rutgers University
Derek Parfit - All Souls College, Oxford; visitor at Rutgers University (and NYU and Harvard)