Juan F. Álvarez
Ruhr-Universität Bochum - jalvarces[at]gmail[dot]com
Juan F. Álvarez
Ruhr-Universität Bochum - jalvarces[at]gmail[dot]com
I'm a postdoctoral researcher at Ruhr-Universität Bochum in the DFG-funded research unit FOR 2812 "Constructing Scenarios of the Past", where I work on the role of non-perceptual factors in remembering. I've also been a member of the Centre for Philosophy of Memory since 2021.
My research spans subfields of philosophies of mind and cognitive science, including the philosophies of memory, imagination, and extended cognition. I defend a reliabilist-discontinuist theory of memory (Philosophical Psychology, 2026) and reject exclusionism about remembering and relearning (Philosophical Studies, 2025). I have co-authored work with colleagues at the Centre for Philosophy of Memory on the (dis)continuities between memory and imagination (Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Memory, forthcoming), the nature of genuine remembering (Philosophy and the Mind Sciences, 2025), and the experimental philosophy of memory (Acta Scientiarum, 2021).
As a member of the research unit FOR 2812, I'm currently investigating how memory extends into the environment, how we imagine other people's pasts, and the nature of early childhood memory.
When I can, I think about the normativity of forgetting and the epistemology of imagination.
I completed my PhD as a doctorant contractuel at the Université Grenoble Alpes and Ruhr-Universität Bochum. Before that, I obtained an MA in philosophy of mind at the Université Grenoble Alpes, and earlier a BA in philosophy at the Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia).
Urraeño y montañero.
I'll present my work on vicarious memory at the 8th Philosophy of Language and Mind Network Conference at Pompeu Fabra University (Barcelona) this summer.
My paper, "Memory and imagination: Toward discontinuist simulationism", has been published online in Philosophical Psychology.
I've successfully defended my dissertation, which was awarded summa cum laude. Many thanks to my committee!
Our chapter "Memory and imagination", co-authored with Jakub Rudnicki and Kourken Michaelian, has been accepted for publication in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Memory, edited by André Sant'Anna and Carl F. Craver.