Expertise:
Race and Ethnic Politics, Race and Ethnicity, Philosophy of Mind, Cognitive Science, Implicit Bias, Implicit Bias Training, Implicit Bias & Politics, Philosophy of Race and Feminism, Social and Political Philosophy, ConsciousnessIn his research and writing, Alex Madva investigates the role of implicit and explicit bias on social justice, social identity and prejudice. In his recent scholarship and implicit bias training, he demonstrates how research on more hidden and implicit forms of prejudice can help to explain the current resurgence of political division and overt forms of bigotry. He also examines moral responsibility as he takes on the issues of implicit bias, stereotypes, the Black Lives Matter movement and the death penalty. He is currently co-editing two books. One is a textbook titled An Introduction to Implicit Bias: Knowledge, justice and the Social Mind that includes examinations of how implicit biases relate to beliefs, desires and intentions, how they compromise social reality, how they impact our social and political institutions, and how those influences can be combatted. The second book, The Movement for Black Lives: Philosophical Perspectives, draws together a diverse range of philosophers to better understand the Movement’s underpinnings, structure, and aims.
Recent Grants and Fellowships:
- Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California, Berkeley, 2012-14
Selected Publications:
- “Integration, Community, and the Medical Model of Social Injustice,” Journal of Applied Philosophy (2019)
- “Equal Rights for Zombies? Phenomenal Consciousness and Responsible Agency,” Journal of Consciousness Studies (forthcoming 2019)
- With V. Seyranian, N. Abramzon, N. Duong, Y. Tibbetts and J.M. Harackiewicz, “The Longitudinal Effects of STEM Identity and Gender on Flourishing and Achievement in College Physics,” International Journal of STEM Education (forthcoming 2019)
- “The Inevitability of Aiming for Virtue,” in Overcoming Epistemic Injustice (B. R. Sherman & S. Goguen, eds., Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming 2019)
- “Social Psychology, Phenomenology, and the Indeterminate Content of Unreflective Racial Bias,” in Race as Phenomena (E. S. Lee, ed., Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming 2019)
- With M. Brownstein, “Stereotypes, Prejudice, and the Taxonomy of the Implicit Social Mind,” Noûs, 52(3), 611–644, 2018
- “Implicit Bias, Moods, and Moral Responsibility,” Pacific Philosophical Quarterly, 99(S1), 53–78, 2018
- With M. Cholbi, “Black Lives Matter and the Call for Death Penalty Abolition,” Ethics, 128(3), 517–544, 2018
- “Biased against Debiasing: On the Role of (Institutionally Sponsored) Self-Transformation in the Struggle against Prejudice,” Ergo, an Open Access Journal of Philosophy, 4(6), 145–179, 2017
- With G. Del Pinal and K. Reuter, “Stereotypes, Conceptual Centrality and Gender Bias: An Empirical Investigation,” Ratio, 30(4), 384–410, 2017
- “Why implicit attitudes are (probably) not beliefs,” Synthese, 193(8), 2659–2684, 2016
- “Implicit Bias and Latina/os in Philosophy,” APA Newsletter on Hispanic/Latino Issues in Philosophy, 16(1), 8–15.
- “Virtue, Social Knowledge, and Implicit Bias, in Implicit Bias and Philosophy: Metaphysics and Epistemology: Volume 1 (pp. 191–215) (M. Brownstein & J. Saul, eds., Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016)
Interviews:
- Harvard Political Review, “Ending Capital Punishment Before Another Life is Lost, ” July 22, 2020 https://harvardpolitics.com/united-states/ending-capital-punishment-before-another-life-is-lost/
- Orange County Register, “CSUF, UCI and Cal Poly Pomona professors team up for study to fight bias, racism in social media,” June 24, 2020
Education:
B.A., Philosophy and English; M.A., M.Phil. & Ph.D., Philosophy; Columbia University
Languages:
English