معرفی
Mitch Herschbach is a Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at California State University, Northridge (CSUN), where he has been teaching since 2011. He also teaches courses in the Department of Interdisciplinary Studies at CSUN, demonstrating his commitment to cross-disciplinary approaches to philosophical inquiry.
Herschbach received his Ph.D. in Philosophy & Cognitive Science from the University of California, San Diego. This interdisciplinary training forms the foundation of his scholarly work, which bridges philosophical analysis with empirical findings from cognitive science and neuroscience.
His research primarily focuses on the philosophy of mind and philosophy of science, with specific attention to cognitive science, psychology, and neuroscience. A significant portion of his work examines human social cognition—the capacity to understand others' mental states, commonly referred to as 'mentalizing,' 'mindreading,' or 'theory of mind.' From a philosophy of science perspective, Herschbach critically investigates explanatory frameworks in cognitive science, particularly the mechanistic approach and its relationship to more radical alternatives emphasizing the embodied, embedded, enactive, and extended nature of cognition. His scholarship consistently engages with simulation theory, folk psychology, and alternative accounts of how we understand other minds.
Herschbach's publication record reveals a sustained engagement with foundational questions in social cognition. His most recent work, 'Revising Simulation Theory Beyond Recognition: A Reply to Yousefi Heris' (2025), demonstrates his active participation in contemporary debates. Over time, his research has evolved to address emerging frameworks like 4E cognition (embodied, embedded, enactive, extended) while maintaining critical engagement with traditional theories of social understanding. His work spans theoretical analysis of cognitive architecture, examination of neural mechanisms, and philosophical implications of empirical findings in cognitive science.
As an educator, Herschbach has over a decade of experience teaching diverse philosophy courses including Ethics & Technology, Business Ethics and Public Policy, Philosophy and Biology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science (covering cognitive sciences and biology), logic and critical thinking, socio-political philosophy, and various ethics courses. His Fall 2025 teaching schedule includes multiple sections of Business Ethics and Public Policy alongside Ethics & Technology.
Herschbach is an active participant in the academic community, particularly through the Society for Philosophy and Neuroscience (SPAN). He has presented his research at events like SPAN2025, where he discussed his views on simulation theory and anti-localizationist accounts of brain function. He maintains professional profiles on academic platforms including Google Scholar, PhilPeople, ResearchGate, and ORCiD, facilitating scholarly connections in his field.
