Publications

A. Monographs

A.2 (with Gottfried Vosgerau) Aussagen und Prädikatenlogik. Eine Einführung. Metzler 2018.

A.1 The Concept of Reduction, Dordrecht: Springer, 2014.

B. Edited Volumes

B8. (in preparation) Th. Besch, H. Kincaid, T. Menon, R. van Riel: Volume on Cultural Domination, under contract with Routledge.

B7. R. Hufendiek, D. James, R. van Riel: Social Functions in Philosophy: Metaphysical, Normative, and Methodological Perspectives, Routledge: 2020.

B6. A.-M. Eder, I. Lawler, R. van Riel (eds.): ‘Philosophical Methods’, Synthese (Special Issue) 2017.

B5. M. Eronen, R. van Riel (eds.): ‘Understanding Through Modeling’, Synthese (Special Issue) 2015.

B4. R. van Riel, E. Di Nucci, J. Schildmann (eds.): Moralisches Enhancement, Mentis 2015.

B3. A. Newen, R. van Riel (eds.), Identity, Language, and Mind. An Introduction to the Philosophy of John Perry, CSLI publ./Mentis, 2012.

B2. R. van Riel und A. Newen (eds.), ‘Reduction in the Philosophy of Mind’, Philosophia Naturalis (Special Issue), 47-48/2010-11, 1-2.

B1. A. Newen, R. van Riel, M. Sollberger (eds.), ‘Second European Graduate School: Philosophy of Language, Mind, and Science’. Abstracta (Special Issue), 5/2. 2009.

C. Papers, Contributions, Misc.

Forthcoming

C.52. R. van Riel: ‘Free Will and Two Types of Determinism’, The Review of Metaphysics: A Philosophical Quarterly (accepted).

C.51. R. van Riel: ‘Reduktionismus und Reduktive Erklärungen’, in: V. Hoffman-Kolss (ed.), Handbuch Philosophie des Geistes, Metzler (forthcoming).

2022

C.50. R. van Riel: ‘Two Originals, One Artwork’, Estetika: The European Journal of Aesthetics 59, 2022, 119-134; DOI: http://doi.org/10.33134/eeja.298

C.49. R. van Riel: ‘Representationalist Physicalism’, Theoria May 2022, https://doi.org/10.1111/theo.12410

C.48. R. van Riel: ‘Weberian Ideal-Type Construction as Concept Replacement’, European Journal of Philosophy, 2022, DOI: 10.1111/ejop.12752.

2021

C.47. R. van Riel: ‘Nagel on Idealization in the Sciences’, in: M. Neuber & A. Tuboly (eds.), Ernest Nagel. Philosophy of Science and the Fight for Clarity. Springer 2021, 111-130.

C.46. R. van Riel: ‘Erklärungen und Abhängigkeitsverhältnisse’, Unikate 2021 (56), 84-93.

2020

C.45. “In Search of the Missing Mechanism”, in: Hufendiek et al (eds): Social functions in philosophy, Routledge: 2020, 70-92.

C.44. R. van Riel: Gerson Reuter “Was wir grundlegend sind: Menschen unter anderen biologischen Einzeldingen”, Review in: Zeitschrift für philosophische Literatur 2020, 42-51.

C.43. R. Hufendiek, D. James, R. van Riel: ‘Introduction’, in: Hufendiek et al (eds.) Social Functions in Philosophy, Routledge 2020, 1-18.

2019

C.42. with R. N. Van Gulick: ‘Scientific Reduction’, in: E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2019 (revised and extended version of van Riel & van Gulick 2014).

C.41. ‘Lying Beyond a Conversational Purpose. A Critique of Stokke’s Assertion Based Account of Lying’, The Journal of Philosophy 116 (2) 2019, 106-118.

C.40. with H. Koch ‘Gewalt – definitorische und normative Aspekte’, Sozialphsychiatrische Informationen, 41 I, 2019, 4-8.

2017

C.39. ‘Free Will, Foreknowledge, and Future-Dependent Beliefs’, The Southern Journal of Philosophy 55, 2017, 500-520.

C.38. R. van Riel: ‘Reduktion und Emergenz’, in: M. Schrenk (ed.): Handbuch Metaphysik, Metzler 2017, 285-291.

C.37. ‘Falsche Fragen, Verstehenslücken, und philosophische Analysen’ Information Philosophie, 2017 (published manuscript of a talk delivered in Giessen in July 2016), link.

2016

C.36. ‘Leibniz on Freedom, Foreknowledge, and Necessitation Without Dependence’, Studia Leibnitiana 48, 2016, 178-200.

C.35. ‘Mental Disorder and the Indirect Construction of Social Facts’, Journal of Social Ontology 2016, Doi: 10.1515/jso-2016-0008.

C.34. ‘Real Knowledge Undermining Luck’, Logos and Episteme 2016, 325.344,

C.33. ‘What is the Problem of Explanation and Modeling?, Acta Analytica 2016, DOI: 10.1007/S12136-016-0307-y.

C.32. ‘What is Constructionism in Psychiatry? From Social Causes to Psychiatric Classification’, Frontiers in Psychiatry 2016, DOI:  10.3389/fpsyt.2016.00057.

C.31. ‘If you understand, you won’t be lucky’, Grazer Philosophische Studien 93, 2016, 196-211.

C.30. ‘Enhancing beyond what ought to be the case’, Bioethics 30, 2016, 384-388.

2015

C.29. ‘The Content of Model-Based Information’, Synthese 192, 2015, 3839-3858.

C.28. `Modelle und Interpretationen. Grenzen eines allgemeinen Modellbegriffs.’ Commentary on Bernd Mahr’s ‘Modelle und ihre Befragbarkeit’, Erwägen-Wissen-Ethik 3 2015, 399-401.

C.27. R. van Riel, J. Schildmann: ‘Enhancement der Moral. Zur Einführung’, in: R. van Riel, E. Di Nucci, J. Schildmann (eds.): Moralisches Enhancement. Mentis 2015.

C.26. Book Review: R. van Riel: Jason Stanley; ‘How Propaganda Works’, in: Moral Theory and Ethical Practice (online first) 2015: DOI: 10.1007/s10677-015-9667-4.

C.25. Markus Eronen, Raphael van Riel: ‘Understanding Through Modeling: The Explanatory Power of Inadequate Representation’, Synthese 192. doi:10.1007/s11229-015-0973-0, 2015.

2014

C.24. with R. N. Van Gulick: ‘Scientific Reduction’, in: E. Zalta (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2014.

C.23. with Reuter, K., Kirfel, L., Barlassina, L.: ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Timely: How Temporal Order and Moral Judgement Influence Causal Selection’, Frontiers in Psychology 2014, doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01336, 2014.

C.22. ‘The Nature of Types and Tokens: On the Metaphysical Commitments of Non-Reductive Physicalism’, Metaphysica 2014, DOI: 10.1515/mp-2014-0014.

C.21. ‘Prophets Against Ockhamism. Or: Why the hard fact/soft fact distinction is irrelevant to the problem of foreknowledge’, International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 2014, 75 (2),  119-135.

C.20. ‘McDowell’s Frege (und Evans)’, in: Lauer & Barth (eds.) Die Philosophie John McDowells, Mentis, 2014, 203-222 .

2013

C.19. Book Review: R. van Riel: Michael Weisberg: Simulation and Similarity. Using Models to Understand the World. Oxford: OUP 2013. Zeitschrift für Philosophische Literatur 1, 2013, 60-70.

2012

C.18. ‘Pains, Pills, and Properties. Functionalism and the First-Order/Second- Order Distinction’, Dialectica 66, 2012, 543-562.

C.17. ‘Identity, Asymmetry, and the Relevance of Meanings for Models of Reduction’, The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 2012, doi: 10.1093/bjps/ axs028.

C.16. ‘Cognitive Significance and Epistemic Intensions’, Logique et Analyse 54 2012.

C.15. ‘Personal Identity’, Newen, A. & R. van Riel (eds.), Identity, Language, and Mind. An Introduction to the Philosophy of John Perry. Stanford: CSLI Publishing/Mentis, 2012.

C.14. A. Newen, R. van Riel, ‘Speaking and Thinking About the Self’, in: Newen & van Riel (eds.), Identity, Language, and Mind. An Introduction to the Philosophy of John Perry. Stanford: CSLI Publishing/Mentis, 2012.

C.13. H. Wohlrapp, R. van Riel: ‘Schluss’, in: P. Kolmer und A. Wildfeuer (eds.); Neues Handbuch philosophischer Grundbegriffe, Karl Alber, 1919-1934, 2012.

2011

C.12. ‘Nagelian Reduction beyond the Nagel Model’, Philosophy of Science, 2011, 78/3, 353-375.

C.11. ‘Identity-Based Reduction and Reductive Explanation’, Philosophia Naturalis, 47-48 (1-2), 2010-2011, 185-221.

C.10. with F. Zenker, H. Gottschall, A. Newen, G. Vosgerau: ‘Designing an Introductory Course to Elementary Symbolic Logic within the Blackboard E-Learning Environment’; P. Blackburn, H. von Ditmarsch, M. Manzano, F. Soler-Toscano (eds.): Proceedings of TICTTL 2011, Special Issue of Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 6680, 2011, 249-255.

Prior to 2010

C.9. ‘On how we perceive the social world. Criticizing Gallagher’s view on direct perception and outlining an alternative’, Consciousness and Cognition 17/2, 2008, 544-552.

C.8. R. van Riel, ‘Theorie-Theorie, Simulationstheorie und der Ansatz der direkten Wahrnehmung – übertriebener Kognitivismus einerseits, naiver Naturalismus andererseits?’, Konferenzband der DG-Phil Konferenz 2008, (CD-ROM), 17 pages.

C.7. Book Review: R. van Riel: David Woodruff Smith, Amie L. Thomasson (eds.): ‘Phenomenology and Philosophy of Mind’, in: Philosophique, 36/1, 2009, 257–259 (in French).

6. R. van Riel, A. Newen: ‘Reductionism, Explanation, and Metaphors in the Philosophy of Mind’, in: The Reasoner, 3/10, 2009, 9-10.

C.5. Book Review: R. van Riel: Wohlrapp, Harald: ‘Der Begriff des Arguments. Über die Beziehung zwischen Wissen, Forschen, Glauben, Subjektivität und Vernunft’, in: Universitas (online), 2008.

C.4. R. van Riel, ‘Naxaliten (Indien)’, in: Wolfgang Schreiber (ed.): Das Kriegsgeschehen 2006. Daten und Tendenzen der Kriege und bewaffneten Konflikte. Wiesbaden: vs Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2008, 55-60.

C.3. R. van Riel, ‘Naxaliten (Indien)’, in: Wolfgang Schreiber (ed.): Das Kriegsgeschehen 2005. Daten und Tendenzen der Kriege und bewaffneten Konflikte. Wiesbaden: vs Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2008, 56-60.

C.2. R. van Riel, ‘Englisch in Wissenschaft und Wirtschaft?’, in: Merkur. Deutsche Zeitschrift für europäisches Denken, 1, 2006, 183-186.

C.1. R. van Riel, ‘Naxaliten (Indien)’, in: Wolfgang Schreiber (ed.): Das Kriegsgeschehen 2004. Daten und Tendenzen der Kriege und bewaffneten Konflikte. Wiesbaden: vs Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2005, 55-60.7

Education

11.2010

Doktor phil., Ruhr-University Bochum. Thesis Title: “The concept of reduction. An identity based approach” (summa cum laude/with distinction). Supervisors: Prof. Albert Newen (Bochum) und Prof. Stephan Hartmann (Tilburg/Munich).

2007-2010

Postgraduate Studies at the Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, and at TiLPS , Netherlands.

12.2006

Magister Artium (Philosophy, Minors: Political Sciences and Social Psychology), University of Hamburg. Supervisors: Prof. Wolfgang Künne and Prof. Ulrich Gähde.

2000-2006

Studied Philosophy, Political Science and Social Psychology  at the University of Hamburg and Sorbonne, Paris.

Career

10.23-3.2024 

Fellow at the KHK/Center for Global Cooperation Research

Since 7.2022

Chair for Theoretical Philosophy at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Spring 2020

Visiting Professor for History of Philosophy at FU-Berlin.

10.2018-8.2022

Senior Lecturer (Akademischer Rat auf Lebenszeit), Universität Duisburg-Essen

Spring 2018

Visiting scholar at Wuhan University (China)

2016 

Temporary Lecturer at the University of Basel (Switzerland)

2015-2016

Acting Chair Theoretical Philosophy, Philipps-University Marburg.

2/3.2014 Visiting Scholar, LOGOS Group, Barcelona.
8.2013-10.2018 Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Associate Professor/Principal Investigator); Institute for Philosophy, University of Duisburg-Essen – Principal Investigator in the project “A Study in Explanatory Power” (Details: See below).
2012-2013 Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Associate Professor); Institute for Philosophy, University of Bochum – Project “A Study in Explanatory Power” (Details: See below).
2/3.2012 Visiting Scholar, LOGOS Group, Barcelona.
2010-2012 Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter (Assistant Professor), Institute for Philosophy II, Ruhr-University Bochum.
2-6.2009 Visiting Fellow, Tilburg Centre for Logic and Philosophy of Science (NL).
2007-2010 Reasearch Assistant at the Instituts for Philosophy II, Ruhr-University Bochum.

Third Party Funding/Awards/Stipends

2018-2022

Dilthey-Fellowship (Phase 2: 322.700 Euro), Volkswagenstiftung, Project: A Study in Explanatory Power II: Philosophical Perspectives on the Explanation of Social Phenomena.

2016-2018

Funding for collaboration with Dr. Darwish (Cologne) on Analytic and Hermeneutic approaches to explanation and understanding, ca. 35.500 Euro (as part of the Dilthey-Fellowship).

2016

Funding for the workshop: Philosophical Methods, DFG, 5.000 Euro.

2015-2019

Network “Social Functions”, funded by the DFG, ca. 27.000 Euro.

2014-2017

Coordinator in the project “Applied Analytic Philosophy: Social Groups” (together with Dr. Miguel Hoeltje), funded by the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Essen, ca. 18.000 Euro.

2012-2018

Dilthey-Fellowship (Phase 1: 571.000 Euro), Volkswagenstiftung, Project: A Study in Explanatory Power.

2011-2012

Member of the Global Young Faculty, funding for a project on moral enhancement, ca.  45.000 Euro, together with 8 collaborators, funded by the Mercator Stiftung.

2011

Dissertation award at the Ruhr-University Bochum.

2011

Dissertation award, Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, Essen.

2009

Funding for the Workshop ‘Reductionism, Metaphors and Explanation in the Philosophy of Mind’; German Society for Analytic Philosophy.

2008-2010

Stipend for Doctoral Studies, awarded by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.

2008

Funding for the development of an online based introductory course to Logic and Argumentation Theory Universitätsallianz Ruhr (together with Albert Newen & Gottfried Vosgerau).

2004-2006

Stipend for undergraduate studies, awarded by the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.

Workshop and Conference Organization

2018 Workshop: ‘The Nature and Significance of Social Kinds’, Essen (together with Daniel James, Andreas Niederberger, Neil Roughley).
2017 Workshop: ‘The Varieties of Knowing How’, Essen (together with Insa Lawler)
2017 Workshop: ‘The Metaphysics of Social Functions’, Essen KWI (together with Dr. Miguel Hoeltje)
2016 Workshop: ‘Philosophical Methods’, Essen KWI (together with Dr. Anna-Maria Eder and Insa Lawler)
2015 Colloquim ‘Varieties of Explanation’, Colloquium at the GAP.9 (together with Dr. Miguel Hoeltje).
2015 ‘Issues in Applied Analytic Philosophy’, Workshop at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities, with Prof. Sally Haslanger (MIT), Prof. Mari Mikkola (Humboldt Universität), Prof. Dan Lopez de Sa (Barcelona), Prof. Esa Diez-Leon (Barcelona) (together with Dr. Miguel Hoeltje)
2014 ‘Norms of Reasoning’, Bochum (together with Anna-Maria Eder and Dr. Peter Brössel)
2014 ‘Explanatory Power III: Topics in Explanation, Dependence, and Understanding’, Workshop at the University Duisburg-Essen (together with Miguel Hoeltje and Insa Lawler).
2013 ‘Explanatory Power II: Understanding Through Modeling’, Workshop at the Ruhr-University Bochum (together with Markus Eronen).
2012 ‘Dependence in Social Ontology’, Workshop at the Humboldt University Berlin (together with Miguel Hoeltje, Daniel James and Heiner Koch).
2012 ‘Neuro-enhancement and its moral implications’, Workshop at the Ruhr-University Bochum (together with post-docs from the Global Young Faculty Network).
2012 ‘Explanatory Power I’, Workshop at the Ruhr-University Bochum (together with Markus Eronen).
2009 ‘Reductionism, Explanation and Metaphors in the Philosophy of Mind’, Satellite Workshop at the GAP7, Bremen (together with Albert Newen).
2009 ‘Second European Graduate School’, Bochum, (together with Albert Newen).
2007/2008 Lecture Series “Philosophie und Kognition” (together with Albert Newen and Christoph Michel).

Reviewer for

Abstracta; Acta Analytica; Australasian Journal of Philosophy; Economics and Philosophy; Erkenntnis; European Journal for Philosophy of Science; Foundations of Science; Journal of Social Ontology; Perspectives on Science; Phenomenology and Mind; Philosopher’s Imprint; Philosophia Naturalis; Philosophical Papers; Philosophia. Philosophical Quarterly of Israel; Philosophy, Psychiatry & Psychology; Philosophy of the Social Sciences; Synthese; Topoi.

Reviewer Swiss National Fund: Project Funding in Humanities and Social Sciences (Division I)

Committee DeGruyter-Preis (2018).

Editor PhilPapers: Section Editor, Reductive Explanation, Theory Reduction

PhD Committees/Supervision

Sara Ipakchi (Düsseldorf), Second Supervisor

Insa Lawler (Duisburg-Essen), Supervisor

Heiner Koch (Duisburg-Essen), Supervisor

Rookmaker (Nijmegen)

Aurélien Darbellay (2017, Barcelona)