Fanen Chiahemen
With
all his experience and accomplishments, it is hard to believe that Peter
Carruthers did not start out with any sort of plan as to what he hoped
to achieve when he first began studying philosophy.
This fall, Carruthers, a native of the U.K., joined the Philosophy Department as Professor and Chair of the Department. Carruthers left his post at the University of Sheffield where he had been since 1991. In 1992, he established the Hang Seng Centre for Cognitive Studies, and was the director of the center until 2000. The center supports research in cognitive studies, and was founded with an endowment from the Hang Seng Bank of Hong Kong.
Since he began teaching at the University of Sheffield, Carruthers's primary interests have been in the philosophy of psychology. He has focused mainly on theories of consciousness and the role of natural language in human cognition. He also specializes in the history of modern philosophy and ethics.
Carruthers, an Oxford University graduate, has published works on the nature of our folk psychology, nativism and modularity, evolutionary psychology and cognitive architecture, the place of natural language in human cognition, and the nature of consciousness.
Although Oxford University is one of the most distinguished institutions
in the world, Carruthers says his Oxford experience was often far from
the charmed and privileged life that many associate with the university.
"I spent most of the time huddled over a gas stove with a dog sitting on my lap," he says.
Also, because the philosophy department at Oxford is not structured as a unit like the University of Maryland department, Carruthers says he was not able to feel as though he were part of a community of philosophers. He says he missed out on being able to interact and exchange ideas with philosophy professors and other graduate students.
Despite boasting an impressive curriculum vitae, Carruthers believes he was a late bloomer when it came to publishing his works. He did not publish anything before landing his first teaching job, which he attributes to the fact that during his graduate studies he was not sure whether he wanted to become an academic.
"It took so long to get anything published, and even longer before I could start getting some reviews," he says.
Carruthers is currently working on a research project on "Innateness
and the Structure of the Mind". It is a three-year interdisciplinary project,
involving the Cognitive Studies Group at the University of Maryland and
the Research Group on Evolution and Higher Cognition at Rutgers University.
