Tzinman CV 1

Rina Tzinman
Email: r.tzinman@gmail.com http://rinatzinman.weebly.com/

Education
University of Miami: PhD in Philosophy, Spring 2016 (defended with no corrections March,
2016, awarded May 2016).
Dissertation title: Reviving the Body. Committee: Mark Rowlands, Simon Evnine, Amie
Thomasson, Berit Brogaard, Amy Kind (external).
Dissertation abstract: What are we? According to the two most common answers we are
either psychological beings or biological organisms. In my dissertation I develop a novel
account, which combines the advantages of these views while avoiding their main
pitfalls. I start by arguing against the most developed theory of organism persistence,
according to which human organisms persist in virtue of their brainstems persisting.
Next, by drawing on the literature on natural properties and biological laws, I argue that
biological organisms can persist through death. While organisms don’t necessarily cease
to exist when they die, we normally do: according to my New Bodily View we are bodies
that are bundles of physical and mental tropes, whereas organisms are bundles of
exclusively physical tropes. This account not only solves various metaphysical problems
about the relation between persons and organisms, but can also handle a novel puzzle I
raise for rival views concerning the relation between bodily and self-awareness.
Technische Universität Berlin, Germany: M.A. in Philosophy and Philosophy of Science, 2010
(advisors: John Michael Krois and Martina Plümacher).
Tel Aviv University, Israel: B.A. in Philosophy (magna cum laude) and in English (magna cum
laude), 2006.

Academic Appointments
Edelstein Center for the History and Philosophy of Science, Technology and Medicine (Hebrew
University): Post Doctoral Fellow, October 2018- September 2019.
Ben Gurion University of the Negev: Post Doctoral Fellow, April 2018-September 2018.
Semmelweis University: Visiting Lecturer, Fall 2017.
Bilkent University: Instructor, Fall 2016 - Spring 2017.
University of Miami: Graduate Instructor, Fall 2011 - Spring 2016

Research Interests
Areas of Specialization: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Mind
Areas of Competence: Applied Ethics, Feminist Philosophy, Phenomenology

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Publications
Articles:

“Memory, Organisms and the Circle of Life.” The Persistence of Persons. Studies in the
metaphysics of personal identity over time. Neunkirchen-Seelscheid: Editiones Scholasticae,
2018.

“Is Romeo Dead? On the Persistence of Organisms.” Synthese, 2017.

“Against the Brainstem View of the Persistence of Human Animals.” Animals. New Essays.
Munich: Philosophia Verlag, 2016 (Response by Eric Olson in the same volume)

Translations:
Translation of a German article for and by Rainer Adolphi (“Ein Selbst zu sein in einem
fragmentarisierten Leben: Über die Schwierigkeiten der klassischen Bildungs-Ideale unter den
Bedingungen gegenwärtiger Gesellschaftswirklichkeit”) into English (“Being One's Own Self in
a Fragmented Life: On the Problems of the Classical Ideals of Bildung under the Conditions of
Current Social Reality”, in: Proceedings “Institutions of Education: then and today”), 2008

Work in Progress and Under Review

A paper constructing a new puzzle for some views of personal identity, based on a particular
relation between bodily- and self-awareness (under review)
A paper developing a new solution to the thinking parts problem in personal identity (under
review)
A paper defending the high variability view of suicidal feelings by developing the inheritance
approach to these feelings (under review)
A paper defending the view that existing depression is not in and of itself a diminishing factor of
patient autonomy (under review)
A paper developing a novel view of what we are, which reconciles certain intuitions motivating
psychological and physical accounts of personal identity (in progress)

Teaching Experience (as sole instructor for each course below)

Bilkent University:
PHIL 308 – Philosophy of Mind, Spring 2017
PHIL244 – Social and Political Philosophy II, Spring 2017
PHIL 243 – Social and Political Philosophy I, Fall 2016

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University of Miami:
PHI 345 – Metaphysics (online course: development and teaching), Fall 2015
PHI 200 – Introduction to the Phenomenological Movement, Fall 2014
PHI 236 – Feminist Philosophy, Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Spring 2016 (cross-listed with the Gender
Studies Department: WGS 350)
PHI 101 – Introduction to Philosophy, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Spring 2014
PHI 130 – Contemporary Moral Issues, Fall 2011, Spring 2012

Thesis committee membership (Bilkent University):

Uğur Eylül Yücel (B.A thesis topic: Ancient Philosophy and Feminism)

Talks
“Extended Emotions and the Metaphysics of Naturalness” (with David Mark Kovacs),
Consciousness and Cognition: An Interdisciplinary Approach Advanced Seminar, Institute of
Advanced Studies, University of Bucharest, June 2017.
“The Bodily View: A New Problem Solver?”
OMS – OntoForMat Metaphysical Seminar (University of Milan), April 2017
Tokyo Forum for Analytic Philosophy, May 2017
Ben Gurion University, April 2018
“Constitution and Bodily Awareness: a Puzzle”
Persons, Selves and Organisms (Bilkent University), February 2017
Providence College, February 2017
Central APA (American Philosophical Association), March 2017
City College of New York (Colloquium), March 2017
Self Between Consciousness and Non-Being, Hokudai University, May 2017
ECAP9 (European Congress for Analytic Philosophy), Munich, August 2017
“
Death, Termination and Biological Laws”, Animals and Death, University of Leeds, September
2016.
“A New Puzzle about Bodily Awareness”, University of Miami Humanities Center, February
2016.
“The Expanding Role of Emotion” (with Michael Slote), Eastern APA (American Philosophical
Association), January 2016.
“Organisms, Naturalness and Disjunctive Persistence Conditions” Central European University
(CEU) Summer University: Ontology and Metaontology, July 2015.

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The Savant Syndrome (group poster presentation with Brogaard Lab), Brain Day, Miami
Museum of Science, March 2015.
“Against the Brainstem View of Human Persistence”
The Mind and Metaphysics Workshop, University of Miami, October 2014
The Joint Sessions of the Aristotelian Society, Cambridge UK, July 2014
University of Pécs, Hungary, July 2014

Fellowships, Awards and Honors

Excellence in Teaching Award, Department of Philosophy, University of Miami 2015-2016
Ethics and Philosophy Summer Internship, University of Miami 2015
Gerrit and Edith Schipper Award for Outstanding Graduate Student in Philosophy, University of
Miami 2014-2015
University of Miami Center for the Humanities Dissertation Fellowship, Spring 2015
Dean’s Summer Research Fellowship, Summer 2014

Service
Judge, University of Miami Bioethics Bowl competition, Spring 2016
Graduate student representative, 2015-2016
Referee: Journal of Philosophical Research, Synthese, Metaphysica, Florida Philosophical
Review
Philosophy Graduate Student Colloquium Organizer and Chair, University of Miami, Fall 2011-
Spring 2012

Languages
Fluent in Hebrew (native), English, German and Romanian
Working knowledge of Yiddish and Italian

References
Available upon request

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