RIMELL, Nicholas

Brief Biography

Before joining CUHK’s Department of Philosophy at the beginning of 2022, I was a lecturer at Jilin University, in Changchun, China (2018 – 2021). I received a BA in philosophy and English literature from Duke University in 2006, an MA in Humanities from the University of Chicago in 2008, and a PhD in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 2018 (dissertation supervisor: Trenton Merricks).

My research involves metaphysics, the philosophy of mind, and ethics. I’m especially interested in where these areas of inquiry come together. These days, I have three projects in various stages.

(1) For a while, I’ve been exploring the nature of mental representation and its connection to first-personal knowledge, to the nature of proper reasoning, and to a variety of ontological issues. This project involves the recent publication of a book, by Palgrave MacMillan, called “Representational Content and the Objects of Thought”.

(2) The project I’m in the middle of now has to do with the metaphysics of personal identity and its connection to a variety of ethical issues. Part of this project involves reflection on the issue of what matters in identity.

(3) Soon, I plan to turn my attention to a project on the relationship among the metaphysics of personal identity, the nature of the persistence of objects in general, and the nature of time.