Faculty

Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor

Homepage | 32-D934 | 617-258-6106 | abyrne@mit.edu

Alex’s main interests are philosophy of mind (especially perception and consciousness), epistemology (especially self-knowledge), and metaphysics (especially color) and the philosophy of sex and gender.

Questions examined in some recent papers and articles include whether hallucinations have objects, whether there are ordinary objects, and whether there is a sex/gender distinction. On the philosophy of color, Alex has collaborated many times with David Hilbert of the University of Illinois at Chicago; they edited the two-volume collection Readings on Color for MIT Press, and are preparing a collection of their papers. Alex also co-edited The Norton Introduction to Philosophy, now in its second edition; the third edition is in preparation. His book Transparency and Self-Knowledge was published in 2018. His latest book is Trouble with Gender: Sex Facts, Gender Fictions.