Postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Logic and Analytical Philosophy, University of Leuven

Personal
Born in Ghent, September 1st 1978.

Degrees
Licence in Non-Western Art Studies at the University of Ghent
Ph.D. in Art Sciences and Archaeology at this university

Research
My research focuses on the cognitive foundations of scientific knowledge, including the role of evolved intuitive ontologies and the extended mind. My work can be situated at the cross-roads of philosophy of science, epistemology and cognitive science. I take an interdisciplinary perspective, integrating data and theory from studies on animal cognition, developmental psychology, cognitive archaeology, cognitive anthropology and neuroscience to examine relationships between the cognitive foundations of our epistemic activities and scientific practice.

My Ph.D. dissertation Innate ideas as a naturalistic source of mathematical knowledge. Towards a Darwinian approach to mathematics, defended in March 2007, aimed to provide a naturalistic philosophy of mathematics by examining the cognitive and cultural roots of mathematics. Since July 2008, I am a member of the Centre for Logic and Analytical Philosphy, University of Leuven, where I investigate the cognitive basis of scientific understanding. I obtained an FWO postdoctoral fellowship in October 2010.

E-mail
helen(dot)decruz{at}kuleuven(dot)be

Office hours
by appointment