Kurzprofil
I am a Privatdozent in the Institute of Philosophy at the University of Leipzig since 2020, where my research project concentrates on the cognition of explicative thinking. In addition to a doctorate (Dr. phil.) in Philosophy from the University of Freiburg i.Br., I also hold a certificate in Higher Education Teaching Methodologies from the Universities of Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
The title of the habilitation thesis is: "Enarrativity: The Cognition of explicative Thinking." This work has been closely influenced by Günter Dux's sociological approach to human cognition and his historico-genetic Theory of Culture.
I have had great opportunities to teach a broad spectrum of epistemology and philosophy of science, with a concentration on human cognition. I have been a visiting professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Puerto Rico (USA), at the University of Heidelberg, where I also earned my M.A. degree, and currently at the University of Leipzig.
Professional Experience (Berufserfahrung)
- 10/2020 - Present
Privatdozent (PD), Institute of Philosophy, University of Leipzig
Courses:
Undergraduate Seminar Anthropology of Mind - Dux' historico-genetic Theory of Mind
Tutorial: Introduction to scientific writing
- 10/2016 - 09/2020
Visiting Assistant Professor (Lehrbeauftragter), Institute of Philosophy, University of Leipzig
Courses:
Undergraduate Seminar Seneca: On Benefits
Tutorial: Autonomous learning and scientific writing
Supervision of final papers
- 03/2012 - 09/2016
Visiting Assistant Professor (Lehrbeauftragter) and Assistant Professor (Akademischer Mitarbeiter), Department of Philosophy, Heidelberg University
Courses:
Graduate Seminar Aristotle: On the Soul
Graduate Seminar Modern Theories of the Self
Undergraduate Seminar Introduction to Cultural Reflexivity
Undergraduate Seminar Historico-genetic Theory of Cognition
Undergraduate Seminar Seneca: Moral Letters
- 08/2010 - 12/2011
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (USA)
Courses:
Undergraduate Course Introduction to Theory of Knowledge
Undergraduate Course Introduction to Philosophy of Mind
Academic Career and Education (Ausbildung)
- 10/2020 - Present
Habilitation and Privatdozent in Philosophy (Dr. phil. habil.), Institute of Philosophy, University of Leipzig,
Title of Habilitationsschrift: Enarrativity: The Cognition of explicative Thinking. A philosophical-anthropological Monograph on Constructive Reasoning. (for the abstract see annex)
- 10/2016 - 09/2020
Postdoctoral Researcher (Habilitand) and Assistant Professor at the Chair of Theoretical Philosophy (Prof. Dr. Pirmin Stekeler-Weithofer) and the Chair of Cognitive Anthropology (Prof. Dr. Kristina Musholt), Institute of Philosophy, University of Leipzig
- 03/2012 - 09/2016
Assistant Professor und Postdoctoral Researcher, Department of Philosophy, Heidelberg University,
Research project: Mind and The Processuality of Thinking
- 03/2006 - 07/2010
PhD in Philosophy (Dr. phil.), University of Freiburg, i. Br.,
Title of Dissertation: Frühentwicklungsgeschichte der phänomenologischen Reduktion: Untersuchungen zur erkenntnistheoretischen Phänomenologie Edmund Husserls.Summary: Early historical Development of the phenomenological Reduction.Studies on Theory of Knowledge of Edmund Husserl’s Phenomenology. Include unpublished Texts from 1900 to 1907.
Research Area: classical and modern Phenomenology
- 10/2001 - 02/2006
Graduate Studies in Philosophy and Religious Studies, Heidelberg University
- 06/2000 - 09/200
Graduate Studies in Philosophy and Literature, University of Osnabrück
- 08/1999 - 05/2000
Master in Philosophy, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (USA)
- 08/1996 - 05/1999
Undergraduate Studies in Philosophy and Humanities (B. A.), University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (USA), Major: History of Philosophy
- 08/1994 - 05/1996
Undergraduate Studies in Business Administration, University of Puerto Rico, Río Piedras Campus (USA)
Monographs
(2021). How? Enarrativity and the Cognition of Explicative Thinking. A New Theory on Constructive Reasoning. [forthcoming] (for the abstract see annex)
(2015). Der Anfang der Erkenntnis: Hegels Dialektik der sinnlichen Gewissheit, Saarbrücken: AV Akademikerverlag. 2015, ISBN-13: 978-3-639-78031-4, pp. 116.
(2014). Der Ursprung der phänomenologischen Reduktion, Saarbrücken: SVH. ISBN-13: 978-3-8381-3985-2, pp. 243.
Articles
(2016). “Animated Machines, Organic Souls: Maturana and Aristoteles on the Nature of Life.“ International Journal of Novel Research in Humanity and Social Sciences (IJNRHSS), 3:1, 67-78.
(2015). “The Incipient Mind Argument. On the Possibility of Novelty in Philosophy of Mind.“ GSTF Journal of General Philosophy (JPhilo) 1:2, 7-16.
(2015). “Counterfactual Truths. The Logical Structure of Argumentative Thought Experiments.“ International Journal of Novel Research in Humanity and Social Sciences (IJNRHSS)
, pp: (1-3). Available at www.noveltyjournals.com journal/IJNRHSS/Issue-2-March-2015-April-2015/0.
(2014). “The Processual Form of Thinking. A New Perspective from Developmental Philosophy.” GSTF Journal of General Philosophy (JPhilo) 1:1, 40-49.
(2013). “Husserls Allgemeine Erkenntnistheorie von 1902/03. Zur Frühentwicklung der phänomenologischen Methode.” Heidelberg: HeiDOK. urn:nbn:de:bsz:16-heidok-146354, 21 pp. (OpenAccess: PDF-Format)
(2011). “Die vorbegriffliche reduktive Maßnahme in Husserls früher Göttinger Zeit. Zur Entstehung des Reduktionsbegriffes.“ In: Flatscher, M., Laner, I. et al. (eds.) Neue Stimmen der Phänomenologie. Band 1: Die Tradition. Das Selbst. Nordhausen: Verl. Traugott Bautz, 51-68.
HOW?
ENARRATIVITY AND THE COGNITION OF EXPLICATIVE THINKING
by Dr. phil. Javier Y. Álvarez-Vázquez
The present work develops a new anthropological theory of rational constructions by analyzing the cognitive conditions for the practice of giving accounts about how things take place or are brought about. In other words, it studies rationality by investigating what are the fundamental cognitive mechanisms required for the cultural development of rational constructions. It analyses the basic cognitive skills through which the human being connects categories and operations in a manner that allows it to orient itself in the world.
Enarrativity (Latin enarrare) consists of the explanatory cognitive use of the structures and relations gained from the interactions of the human organism with its environment and within its cultural milieu. In this sense, enarrativity is treated in this study as a specific process of reasoning that comprises several cognitive strategies of finding and forming an orientation for self-organization. Thus, enarrativity refers to the inferential cycle of cognitive mechanisms and skills that synergistically allow the formation of coherencies.
This work is an interdisciplinary, theoretical study that develops a new theory of constructive reasoning. It applies methods from philosophical and cognitive anthropology to the field of theory of knowledge. It also integrates the historico-genetic approach to cognition as well as developmental psychological studies.
Areas of Specialization:
Stoic Ethics, Anthropology of Mind, Theory of Knowledge, Human Cognition, Philosophical Anthropology, Philosophy of Biology, Phenomenology
Areas of Competence:
Anthropology of Ethics and Morality, German Idealism, Comparative Religion, Ritual Studies