Benjamin Young, Ph.D.

Associate Professor
Benjamin Young

Summary

Benjamin D. Young is an associate professor in philosophy and a member of the graduate faculty in interdisciplinary neuroscience and the Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Nevada, Reno. Previously he held a Kreitman Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at Ben-Gurion University, as well as Visiting Assistant Professorship and Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Department of Cognitive Science at Hebrew University. He conducts research at the intersection of cognitive neuroscience and philosophy with a particular emphasis on olfaction. Most recently he has published articles on non-conceptual content, qualitative consciousness in the absence of awareness and the perceptible objects of smell in journals such as Mind & Language, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly and Philosophical Studies. Ben is also the co-principal investigator on two collaborative experimental projects: the BioPhilosophy of Smell with Dennis Mathew and Conversations with the Human Unconscious with Ran Hassin. His most recent projects include the co-edited textbook with Carolyn Dicey Jennings Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience and a forthcoming co-edited collection with Andreas Keller Theoretical Perspectives on Smell. Ben is currently finishing a book on smell tentatively titled Stinking Philosophy and beginning to work on a book about the unconscious mind.

Research interests

  • Philosophy of cognitive science and neuroscience
  • Philosophy of mind
  • Philosophy of psychology

Recent publications

Textbook

  • Young, B.D. and Dicey Jennings, C. (Eds.) Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience: a philosophical introduction. Routledge Press

Edited collections

  • Young, B.D. and Keller, A. (2015) Olfactory Consciousness across Disciplines. ebook & Research Topic for Frontiers in Consciousness Research.

Articles and chapters

  • Young, B.D. (2022) “Smelling Odors and Tasting Flavors.” in Sensory Individuals. (Eds.) A. Mroczko-Wąsowicz & R. Grush. Oxford University Press.
  • Goldstein, A., and Young, B.D. (2022) “The Unconscious Mind,” in Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience. Routledge Press.
  • Dicey Jennings, C. and Young, B.D. (2022) “Introduction to Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience,” Mind, Cognition, and Neuroscience: a philosophical introduction. Routledge Press.
  • Young, B.D. and Nanay, B. (2021) Olfactory Amodal Completion. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly
  • Young, B.D. (2020) Perceiving Smellscapes. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 101 (2), 203-223.
  • Young, B.D., Escalon, J., and Mathew, D. (2020) Odors: from chemical structures to gaseous plumes. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 111, 19-29.
  • Young, B.D. (2019) Olfactory Imagery - is exactly what it smells like. Philosophical Studies, 177(11), 3303-3327.  doi.org/10.1007/s11098-019-01371-4.
  • Young, B.D. (2019) Smell’s Puzzling Discrepancy. Mind & Language, 35 (1), 90-114. doi.org/10.1111/mila.12233.
  • Young, B.D. (2019). “Smelling Molecular Structure,” in Perception, Cognition, and Aesthetics. (Eds.) D. Shottenkirk, S.Gouveia and J. Curado. Routledge Press. p.64-84.
  • Young, B.D. (2019). “The Many Problems of Distal Olfactory Perception,” in Spatial Senses: Philosophy of Perception in an Age of Science. (Eds.) T. Cheng, O. Deroy, & C. Spence. Routledge Press. p. 148-169.
  • Young, B.D. (2017). “Enactivism’s Last Breaths,” in Contemporary Perspective in the Philosophy of Mind. (Eds.) M.Curado and S. Gouveia. Cambridge Scholars Press.
  • Young, B.D. (2016). Smelling Matter, Philosophical Psychology, 29 (4), 520-534. doi: 10.1080/09515089.2015.1126814.
  • Young, B.D. (2015). Formative Non-Conceptual Content, Journal of Consciousness Studies, 22 (5-6), 201-214.
  • Young, B.D. (2014). Smelling phenomenal, Frontiers in Psychology. 5:713. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00713.
  • Young, B.D., Keller, A., & Rosenthal, D. (2014). Quality Space Theory in Olfaction, Frontiers in Psychology. 5:1. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00001.
  • Keller, A. & Young, B.D. (2014). Olfactory Consciousness across Disciplines, Frontiers in Psychology. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.00931.
  • Young, B.D. (2012) Stinking Consciousness! Journal of Consciousness Studies, 19: 223-243.

Education

  • Ph.D., City University of New York, The Graduate Center, 2011