of Victoria
BA (Concordia University), MA (University of British Columbia), PhD (University of Waterloo)
History and philosophy of science, philosophy of neuroscience, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, social epistemology, and metaphysics
Eric joined the department in 2017. Prior to taking on his position at the University of Victoria, Eric was a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program at Washington University in St. Louis, and before that was a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds.
More specifically, Eric is interested in how theories and models which make contradictory claims can be used to study the same complex phenomenon in science, and how these different models can contribute to the same scientific explanation (with a special focus on the scientific study of the mind). He is likewise interested in the ways in which social, linguistic, and pragmatic factors influence and shape scientific practice. Eric also has interests in more traditional questions in the philosophy of mind, including questions regarding how we classify cognitive phenomena, the nature of mental content, and the metaphysics of intentionality.
Publications: Eric has published papers in journals such as The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Philosophical Quarterly, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, Synthese, The Journal of Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence, and International Studies in Philosophy of science. For a detailed list of Dr. Hochstein's recent publications, see our "What We're Writing" page.