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Matthew Van Cleave

University of Detroit Mercy, College of Engineering and Science, Faculty Member

University of Detroit Mercy, International cohort instructor, Faculty Member

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PhD, Philosophy, University of Cincinnati, 2007. VAP at Concordia College (Moorhead), 2008-2012. Assistant Professor at Lansing Community College, 2012-2016. Professor at Lansing Community College, 2016-2021. Adjunct, University of Detroit Mercy, 2021-2023. International Cohort Professor, University of Detroit Mercy, 2023-present
Supervisors: Christopher Gauker

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Sally Haslanger

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Daniel D. Hutto

University of Wollongong

University of California, Merced

Cristiana Facchini

Università di Bologna

Shaun Gallagher

University of Memphis

Louis de Saussure

University of Neuchâtel

Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Armando Marques-Guedes

UNL - New University of Lisbon

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Stockholm University

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Books by Matthew Van Cleave

Normative Ethics for Engineers

Open Textbook, 2023

Part 1 covers normative ethics theories; part 2 covers issues in engineering ethics, including: t... more

Philosophical Ethics

Open textbook, 2022

Short introduction to philosophical ethics including: value theory, normative ethics and a couple... more

Introduction to Philosophy

Open textbook, 2019

This is an open textbook (CC-BY) that my colleagues and I wrote for an introduction to philosophy... more

Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking

Open textbook, 2016

An intro level text covering the basics of reasoning and argumentation, including some basic form... more An intro level text covering the basics of reasoning and argumentation, including some basic formal logic, and targeted at beginning undergraduates. I wrote it for a course I taught at Lansing Community College that covered both logic and critical thinking. It is an "open textbook" under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Papers by Matthew Van Cleave

Linguistic practice and false-belief tasks

Mind and Language, Jun 2010

Jill de Villiers and collaborators have argued that children's mastery of sentential complements ... more Jill de Villiers and collaborators have argued that children's mastery of sentential complements ("that"-clauses) plays a crucial role in enabling them to succeed at false-beliefs tasks. Josef Perner and collaborators have disputed that claim on the basis of their studies with German-speaking children and have argued that mastery of falsebelief tasks requires an understanding of the fact that different people have different perspectives on the world. This paper offers a new account of some of the developmental data that incorporates insights from both de Villiers and Perner. The practice of attributing desires is explicated as a development out of the practice of issuing commands. The practice of attributing beliefs is explicated as a development out of the practice of pooling information in cooperative endeavors. In this light one can understand why desire-talk will precede belief-talk and why even older children will have difficulty attributing desires when the other person's desire is incompatible with their own desires.

Book Reviews by Matthew Van Cleave

Review of Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature Alva Noë

Teaching Philosophy, 2020

In Strange Tools, Alva Noë argues that art and philosophy are two species of the same genus in vi... more In Strange Tools, Alva Noë argues that art and philosophy are two species of the same genus in virtue of the fact that they share the same function. That function is to reflect on the ways that our lives are structured and ordered and to thereby gain some understanding of who we are, what we are, why we are. That understanding can then be used to reorder and restructure our lives. Like philosophy, art is a kind of investigation of ourselves, according to Noë.

Gutting's What Philosophy Can Do

Teaching Philosophy, 2016

Dissertation by Matthew Van Cleave

The Role of Language in Cognitive Development

Normative Ethics for Engineers

Open Textbook, 2023

Part 1 covers normative ethics theories; part 2 covers issues in engineering ethics, including: t... more

Philosophical Ethics

Open textbook, 2022

Short introduction to philosophical ethics including: value theory, normative ethics and a couple... more

Introduction to Philosophy

Open textbook, 2019

This is an open textbook (CC-BY) that my colleagues and I wrote for an introduction to philosophy... more

Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking

Open textbook, 2016

An intro level text covering the basics of reasoning and argumentation, including some basic form... more An intro level text covering the basics of reasoning and argumentation, including some basic formal logic, and targeted at beginning undergraduates. I wrote it for a course I taught at Lansing Community College that covered both logic and critical thinking. It is an "open textbook" under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Linguistic practice and false-belief tasks

Mind and Language, Jun 2010

Jill de Villiers and collaborators have argued that children's mastery of sentential complements ... more Jill de Villiers and collaborators have argued that children's mastery of sentential complements ("that"-clauses) plays a crucial role in enabling them to succeed at false-beliefs tasks. Josef Perner and collaborators have disputed that claim on the basis of their studies with German-speaking children and have argued that mastery of falsebelief tasks requires an understanding of the fact that different people have different perspectives on the world. This paper offers a new account of some of the developmental data that incorporates insights from both de Villiers and Perner. The practice of attributing desires is explicated as a development out of the practice of issuing commands. The practice of attributing beliefs is explicated as a development out of the practice of pooling information in cooperative endeavors. In this light one can understand why desire-talk will precede belief-talk and why even older children will have difficulty attributing desires when the other person's desire is incompatible with their own desires.

Review of Strange Tools: Art and Human Nature Alva Noë

Teaching Philosophy, 2020

In Strange Tools, Alva Noë argues that art and philosophy are two species of the same genus in vi... more In Strange Tools, Alva Noë argues that art and philosophy are two species of the same genus in virtue of the fact that they share the same function. That function is to reflect on the ways that our lives are structured and ordered and to thereby gain some understanding of who we are, what we are, why we are. That understanding can then be used to reorder and restructure our lives. Like philosophy, art is a kind of investigation of ourselves, according to Noë.

Gutting's What Philosophy Can Do

Teaching Philosophy, 2016

The Role of Language in Cognitive Development