Curriculum Vitae
SAUL TRAIGER
1907 Escarpa Dr.
Los Angeles, CA 90041
EDUCATION
University of Pittsburgh: M.A., 1981; Ph.D., 1984
Universität München, 1977‑78 (Fulbright Fellow)
Harpur College, State University of New York at Binghamton: B.A., 1977 (Karl‑Franzens Universität Graz, Austria, Fall 1975)
POSITIONS HELD
Professor of Cognitive Science and Philosophy, Emeritus, Occidental College, 2021 – present.
Professor of Cognitive Science and Philosophy, Occidental College, 9/98 – 2021.
Associate Professor of Cognitive Science and Philosophy, Occidental College 9/91 - 8/98.
Assistant Professor of Cognitive Science and Philosophy, Occidental College; 9/85 ‑ 9/91.
Visiting Associate Professor of Philosophy, Resident Director, CALPUC Year-in-Japan Program, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, 9/91 - 8/92.
Chair, Department of Philosophy, Occidental College, 9/92 - 6/95, 9/97 – 6/00, 7/2006 – 6/2007, 7/2010 – 6/2013.
Chair, Department of Cognitive Science, Occidental College; 9/87 – 6/00; 7/2009 – 6/2010; 7/2014 – 6/2015.
Visiting Assistant Professor, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; 9/84‑6/85.
AWARDS AND HONORS
Fulbright Fellowship to Federal Republic of Germany, 1977‑78
Highest Honors in Philosophy, SUNY at Binghamton, 1977
University Honors, SUNY at Binghamton, 1977
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
Co-editor, Hume Studies, May, 2010 – April, 2015.
Member, Editorial Board, Hume Studies, 2005-2007.
Steering Committee, IACAP (International Association for Computing and Philosophy) 2003 – 2006; Elected Founding IACAP Member, 2010.
Behavioral and Brain Sciences Associate, 2002 – present.
President, Hume Society, 2001- 2003.
Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Hume Society; 1993-1997
Member, Executive Committee of the Hume Society; 1988-1991, 1993-1997, 2001-2003; 2007 – 2009; Member, Hume Society, 1984 – present.
Member, American Philosophical Association (APA) 1984 - present; member, APA Committee on Computer Use in Philosophy, 1995-1998.
Member, American Association of University Professors; 1999 – 2001.
PUBLICATIONS
Books
Twilight Zone Reflections: An Introduction to the Philosophical Imagination, Lever Press, June, 2024.
The Blackwell Guide to Hume’s Treatise, volume editor; (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006).
Articles
"Hume on the Methods and Limits of the Science of Human Nature" in Phillip Reed and Rico Vitz, eds., Hume's Moral Philosophy and Psychology, (Routledge, 2018).
“Ideas and Association” in The Humean Mind, Angela Coventry and Alex Sager, eds. (Routledge, 2018)
“Experience and Testimony in Hume’s Philosophy” Episteme, Volume 7, No. 1 (February, 2010) pp. 42-57.
“Hume on Memory and Imagination” The Blackwell Guide to Hume, Elizabeth Radcliffe, ed.; (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2008).
“The Cognitive Management of E-Testimony” Triple C: Cognition, Communication, Cooperation (http://triplec.uti.at/) Volume 4, No. 1, 2006.
“Reason Unhinged: Passion and Precipice from Montaigne to Hume,” in Joyce Jenkins, Jennifer Whiting, Christopher Williams, eds., Persons and Passions: Essays in Honor of Annette Baier, University of Notre Dame Press, 2005, pp. 100 – 116.
“Making the Right Identification in the Turing Test,” Minds and Machines, Vol. 10, No. 4, 2000, pp. 561 – 572; reprinted in J. H. Moor (ed.) The Turing Test (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003).
“The APA Internet Bulletin Board and Website,” in The Digital Phoenix: How Computers are Changing Philosophy (NY: Blackwell, 1998)
"Beyond our Senses: Recasting Book I, Part III of Hume's Treatise", Hume Studies XX, 2 (November, 1994) pp. 241-259
"The Secret Operations of the Mind" Minds and Machines Volume 4, No. 3 (August, 1994) pp. 303-316
"Humean Testimony" Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 74:2 (June, 1993) pp. 135-149.
"Hypertext Syllabi in Cognitive Science", Proceedings of SIGDOC '93 (NY: The Association for Computing Machinery, 1993) pp. 339-344
"Solipsism, Individualism and Cognitive Science", Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 3 (1991) pp. 163-170
"The Ownership of Perceptions: A Study of Hume's Metaphysics"; History of Philosophy Quarterly, V, 1; (1988) pp. 41‑52
"Impressions, Ideas, and Fictions"; Hume Studies XIII, 2; (1987) pp. 381‑399
"Flage on Hume's Account of Memory"; Hume Studies X, 2; (1985) pp. 166‑172
"The Problem of the Bottle Imp"; Philosophia, 15:4, (1985) pp. 425‑6
"Hume on Finding an Impression of the Self", Hume Studies X, 1; April, 1985; pp. 47‑69. Reprinted in David Hume: Critical Assessments, Stanley Tweyman, ed.; London: Routledge, 1994, Volume 3.
"The Hans Reichenbach Correspondence ‑ An Overview"; Philosophy Research Archives X, (1984) pp. 501‑511
"Some Remarks on Lehrer and Richards' 'Remembering without Knowing'"; Grazer Philosophische Studien 6, (1978) pp. 107‑111
Encyclopedia and Dictionary Entries
“Hans Reichenbach” in Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers, John, R. Shook, ed.; Thoemmes Press, 2005.
“Hume,” MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1999)
“Ideas”, The Encyclopedia of Empiricism, Don Garrett and Ed Barbanell, eds., Greenwood Press, 1997
“Simple/Complex,” The Encyclopedia of Empiricism, Don Garrett and Ed Barbanell, eds., Greenwood Press, 1997
Reviews
Review of Costelloe, Timothy M., The Imagination in Hume’s Philosophy: The Canvas of the Mind, Hume Studies, Volume 48, Number 1, (2022).
Review of Fred Wilson, The External World and Our Knowledge of It: Hume’s Critical Realism, an Exposition and a Defence; Review of Metaphysics, Volume LXIII, Number 1, (September, 2009), 220-221.
“Reason in History or History in Reason?” (Review essay of Claudia M. Schmidt, David Hume: Reason in History) Eighteenth Century Thought Volume 3 (2007) 373-86.
Review of John Pollock and Joseph Cruz, Contemporary Theories of Knowledge, Minds and Machines 14, (2004) 417-421.
Review of Louis E. Loeb, Stability and Justification in Hume’s Treatise; Notre Dame Philosophical Review June, 2003. (http://ndpr.nd.edu/review.cfm?id=1377)
Review of Fred Wilson, Hume’s Defence of Causal Inference, Hume Studies, Vol. XXVI, No. 2, (2000), 350-353
Review of Button, Graham, Coulter, Jeff, Lee, John R. E., Sharrock, Wes, Computers, Minds and Conduct, with Gail M. Gottfried in Minds and Machines Volume 7, Number 1 (February 1997)
Review of Leonard Angel, How to Build a Conscious Machine, in Minds and Machines Volume 4, No. 3 (August 1994) 365-369
Review of Herbert R. Otto and James A. Tuedio, eds. Perspectives on Mind; in Canadian Philosophical Reviews IX 5 (1989) 191-194
Review of John Haugeland's Artificial Intelligence: The Very Idea, in Teaching Philosophy 10:4, (1987) 355‑358
Review of Merillee H. Salmon's Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking; in Teaching Philosophy 9:1, (1986) pp. 87‑90
SELECTED CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Symposium on Hume and Hegel“ coauthored with Kory Schaff, presented at the Pacific Division Meetings of the American Philosophical Association, San Francisco, CA, April 10, 2025.
“E-Testimony and Justification” presented at E-CAP 2005, (European Computing and Philosophy Conference) Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Mälardalen University (Mälardalens Högskola), Västerås, Sweden 2 - 4 June 2005.
“Prior Fictions,” presented at the 30th Hume Conference, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, July 30, 2003.
“Naturalism and Normativity”, panel presentation at the Twenty-Ninth Hume Conference, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland, August 10, 2002.
“Making the Right Identification in the Turing Test,” Dartmouth Conference on the Future of the Turing Test, Dartmouth College, January 28, 2000.
“Reason Unhinged: Passion and Precipice from Montaigne to Hume,” Twenty-sixth Hume Conference, Cork, Ireland, July, 1999.
“Hot and Cold Cognition: Hume’s Chairlift Example,”; Twenty-Second Hume Conference, Park City, Utah, July 26, 1995.
"Philosophy and the Internet in the 90s"; Ninth Annual Computing and Philosophy Conference, Occidental College, August 10, 1994.
"Hypertext Syllabi in Cognitive Science"; SIGDOC '93, Association for Computing Machinery, Kitchner, Ontario, October 5, 1993.
"The Future of the APA Electronic Bulletin Board"; with Jan Panero, Eighth Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 12, 1993.
"Hyperpsych: A Hypertext Application in Cognitive Science" Fifth Annual Computing and Philosophy Conference, Stanford University, August 12, 1990.
"Solipsism, Individualism and Cognitive Science"; Workshop on Artificial Intelligence, SUNY at Binghamton, Binghamton, N.Y., June 22, 1990.
"The Secret Operations of the Mind"; Fourth Annual Computing and Philosophy Conference, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, August 11, 1989.
"Hume's Naturalism and the Testimony of Others"; Fifteenth Hume Conference, Marburg, Germany, August 15‑19, 1988
"The Philosophical Origins of Artificial Intelligence"; Symposium on the Human Dimension in Artificial Intelligence, University of Kentucky, April 9, 1988
"Toward a Cognitive Science Curriculum"; Second Annual Philosophy and Computers Conference, Michigan State University, E. Lansing, MI, June 18, 1987
"Impressions, Ideas, and Fictions"; Fourteenth Hume Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland; August, 1986; presented at the Pacific Division Meetings of the American Philosophical Association; March 27, 1987.
"Comments on D. Flage's 'Hume on Memory and Causation'", Hume Society Congress, Reykjavik, Iceland; August 19, 1984
"The Possibility of an Idea of the Self," Twelfth Hume Conference, Montreal, Canada; August 20, 1983
INVITED PRESENTATIONS
“The Prospects for a Science of Human Nature: Comparing Hume’s Disclaimers in Treatise Books 1 and 2,” California State University, Northridge; April 12, 2017.
“Mistakes and Fictions” University of San Francisco, September 19, 2014, Workshop on Hume’s Naturalism, University of Durham, England, July 17, 2015, and 42nd Hume Conference, Stockholm, Sweden, July 20, 2015.
Claudia Schmidt and Reason in History, presented at a special memorial session on the work of Claudia Schmidt at the 39th Hume Conference, Calgary, Canada, July 22, 2012.
“Cognitive and Moral Atheism” presented at the Pacific Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, San Diego, California, April 20, 2011.
“Hume on Belief”, presented at the 35th International Hume Conference, Akureryi, Iceland, August 9, 2008.
“The Variety of Hume’s Fictions”, presented to the Scientia Workshop, Department of Philosophy, University of California, Irvine, November 17, 2006.
“Reason in History or History in Reason?” presented in the Hume Society session of the American Philosophical Association Central Division Meetings, “Author Meets Critics: Claudia Schmidt, David Hume: Reason in History” Chicago, IL, April 27, 2006.
“Machines, Cold Porridge and the Turing Test”, presented to the Global Interface Mellon Workshop, University of California, Riverside, March 30, 2005. (http://globalinterface.blogspot.com/2005/03/march-330-turing-talk.html#comments)
Comments on Graciela De Pierris, “Hume, The Mechanical Philosophy, and the Idea of Necessity,” American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division Meetings, February 26, 2005.
“Fictions and Hume’s Science of the Mind” presented at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, Canada, January 20, 2005.
"Knowledge, Consciousness and Hume's Missing Shade of Blue" presented at the University of Akureryi, Iceland, January 20, 2003.
“Legal Reasoning and Imagination in Hume’s Science of Mind” presented at the Hume Society Session of the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meetings, Seattle, Washington, March 29, 2002.
“The Authority of the Imagination,” presented at the APA Colloquium session on Hume on Reason and Imagination, APA Pacific Division Meeting, April 1, 1999; University of Iceland, October 10, 2001.
“Reason Unhinged: Passion and Precipice from Montaigne to Hume”, presented at the Cognitive Science Colloquium, Cognitive Science Program, UCLA, May 18, 1997; University of Utah, February 5, 1999; Pomona College, April 25, 2000; University of Iceland, October 11, 2001.
“The Connectionist Connection: Comments on Mark Collier’s “Hume and Connectionism on the Continued Existence of Unperceived Objects””, presented at the Twenty-Fifth Hume Conference, University of Stirling, Scotland, July 23, 1998.
“Hume on Cruelty,” Presented at Different Voices: A Conference in Honor of Annette Baier, University of Pittsburgh, February 4, 1995.
“Real Problems in Virtual Domains: Intellectual Communities and the Internet,” presented at the Claremont Colleges Science and Technology Study Program Colloquium, October 23, 1995.
“Comments on John W. Carroll’s “Humean Justified Belief,” Central Division Meetings of the American Philosophical Association, Chicago, Illinois, April 30, 1995.
"Default Reasoning and Testimony", California State University, Northridge, February 15, 1995; University of Redlands, February 19, 1993; Tokyo Philosophy Colloquium, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, April 27, 1992.
"Humean Testimony", presented at Nanzan University, Nagoya, Japan, June 20, 1992.
"Beyond our Senses: Recasting Book I, Part III of Hume's Treatise"; Kanto Region Meetings of the Japan Society for the Study of British Philosophy, Sacred Heart Womens' University, Tokyo, Japan, July 4, 1992; University of Cincinnati, Symposium on the Philosophy of David Hume, May 16-19, 1991; Hume Society Session, Eastern Division Meeting of the American Philosophical Association, December 28, 1990, Boston, MA.
"The Electric Agora: Philosophy Comes to Bulletin Boards"; presented at the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Meetings, March 30, 1990.
"Individualism and Empiricism"; presented at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California, November 17, 1989
"Hume on Testimony"; presented at Keio University, Tokyo, Japan, May 2, 1989
"Cognitive Science and the Liberal Arts"; presented at Albright College, October 6, 1988
"A New Science ‑ The Emerging Discipline of Cognitive Science"; presented at California State University, Fresno, CA, November 10, 1988
"Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Science"; presented at UCLA School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, April 13, 1988.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Conference Co-director of the 47th International Hume Conference, July, 2020, Bogotá, Columbia, held online.
Lead External Program Reviewer, Department of Philosophy, Scripps College, Claremont, CA, November, 2015.
Panelist, AskPhilosophers.org (http://www.askphilosophers.org) (through 2012).
External Program Reviewer, Department of Philosophy, University of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, March, 2014.
External Program Reviewer, Department of Philosophy, Denver Metropolitan State College, Denver, Colorado, February, 2007.
Conference Co-director of the 32nd Hume Conference, July, 2004, Tokyo, Japan.
Consultant, University of North Carolina, Introduction to Cognitive Science Project, National Science Foundation Grant, 2000 - 2001.
Editorial Board, Noesis: Philosophical Research Online (through 2002)
Program Committee, Computing and Philosophy (CAP) West, Oregon State University, 2001, 2002.
National Endowment for the Humanities Panelist, Division of Access and Preservation, November, 1997.
National Science Foundation, referee for “Ethics and Value Studies” Initiative, October, 1996.
National Endowment for the Humanities Panelist, Teaching with Technology” Initiative, May, 1996.
Consultant, Cognitive Science and the Core Curriculum, University of Puget Sound, February, 1996.
Chair, External Review Committee, Review of the Department of Philosophy and Religion, Bates College, March, 1995.
Visiting Scholar in Cognitive Science, Franklin and Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, November, 1994.
Consultant, Cognitive Science and Computer Science, Willamette University, July, 1993.
Consultant, Cognitive Science, California State University, Fresno, November, 1988.
Consultant, Cognitive Science, Albright College, Reading, Pennsylvania, October, 1988.
Referee for:
Publishers: Oxford University Press, Blackwell Publishers, Routledge, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Scholarly Societies: The Hume Society
Journals: Inquiry, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Hume Studies, History of Philosophy Quarterly, Journal of the History of Philosophy, Philosophy of Science, Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, Nous, Minds and Machines, Journal of Theoretical and Experimental Artificial Intelligence, Canadian Journal of Philosophy, Logical Analysis and History of Philosophy/Philosophiegeschichte und logische Analyse, Mind, Archiv für Geschichte der Philosophie, Tijdschrift voor Filosofie, AI & Society, Journal of Modern Philosophy.
Funding Agencies: National Endowment for the Humanities, National Science Foundation
Systems Administrator and founder, website and Electronic Bulletin Board of the American Philosophical Association, 9/89 -6/96.
GRANTS
Howard Hughes Medical Research Fund, for curriculum development in cognitive science, 5/97-8/97, (with Gail M. Gottfried and Diana Linden); 5/98/8/98, $12,000, (with Alan Knoerr and Diana Linden).
Edison International Grant for Excellence in Higher Education: “Using the Internet to Link and Enrich Secondary and Post-secondary Schools” 1/97 - 8/97. $20,000
American Philosophical Association grants for work on the APA Electronic Bulletin Board, 7/95-6/96. $5000; 7/94-6/95. $2500; 1/92-6/94.
Pew Science Curriculum Development grant for work on hypertext project in cognitive psychology; Grant period: June 1 - September 15, 1991.
National Endowment for the Humanities: Hume Society Summer Institute on Hume and the Enlightenment, July 9-August 10th, 1990. Wade L. Robison, Executive Director.
National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Seminar for College Teachers; Seminar: Frege and the Philosophy of Mathematics; University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Michael Resnik, director; June 12 ‑ August 5, 1988.
American Council of Learned Societies Travel Grant; for travel to the Fourteenth Hume Conference, Edinburgh, Scotland; August, 1986.