Robert Lane, Ph.D.

Robert Lane, Ph.D.

Professor of Philosophy

Contact info

Curriculum Vitae [PDF]

Professor of Philosophy

Education / Degrees

  • Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Miami, 1998
  • Courses Taught
  • Course Sections and Syllabi

    Fall 2020 Sections

    • PHIL-2030 (Introduction to Ethics) Section: 01
    • PHIL-2030 (Introduction to Ethics) Section: 02
    • PHIL-4300 (Senior Seminar) Section: 01W

    Summer 2020 Sections

    • PHIL-2030 (Introduction to Ethics) Section: E02
    • PHIL-2030 (Introduction to Ethics) Section: E01

    Spring 2020 Sections

    Fall 2019 Sections

    Summer 2019 Sections

    Spring 2019 Sections

    Fall 2018 Sections

    Summer 2018 Sections

    Spring 2018 Sections

    Fall 2017 Sections

    Summer 2017 Sections

    Spring 2017 Sections

    Fall 2016 Sections

    Summer 2016 Sections

    Spring 2016 Sections

    Summer 2015 Sections

    Spring 2015 Sections

  • Publication List

    "Truth as Representation, Not Will: How Peirce’s Modest Correspondence Theory Can Complement Haack’s Innocent Realism." Cosmos + Taxis 8 (4+5), 2020, pp.73-81. [View Publication]

    “‘A Sharply Drawn Horizon’: Peirce and Other Correspondence Theorists,” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 54 (3), 2018. [View Publication]

    Peirce on Realism and Idealism. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2018. [View Publication]

    “Peirce’s ‘Entanglement’ with the Principles of Excluded Middle and Contradiction,” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 33 (3), Summer 1997. [View Publication]

    “Why Bacon’s Method is not Certain,” History of Philosophy Quarterly 16 (2), April 1999. [View Publication]

    “Peirce’s Triadic Logic Revisited,” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 35 (2), Spring 1999. [View Publication]

    “Why I Was Never a Zygote,” Southern Journal of Philosophy 41 (1), 2003. [View Publication]

    “On Peirce’s Early Realism,” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 40 (4), Fall 2004. [View Publication]

    “Safety, Identity and Consent: A Limited Defense of Reproductive Human Cloning,” Bioethics 20 (3), June 2006. [View Publication]

    “Synechistic Bioethics: How a Peircean Views the Abortion Debate,” Contemporary Pragmatism 3 (2), December 2006. [View Publication]

    “Peirce’s Modal Shift: From Set Theory to Pragmaticism,” Journal of the History of Philosophy 45 (4), October 2007. [View Publication]

    “Peirception: Haack’s Critical Common-sensism about Perception,” in Susan Haack: A Lady of Distinctions. The Philosopher Responds to Her Critics, ed. Cornelis de Waal, Prometheus Books, Amherst, NY, 2007. [View Publication]

    “Persons, Signs, Animals: A Peircean Account of Personhood,” Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society 45 (1), Winter 2009. [View Publication]

    “The Final Incapacity: Peirce on Intuition and the Continuity of Mind and Matter, Part I,” Cognitio 12 (1), January-June 2011. [View Publication]

    “The Final Incapacity: Peirce on Intuition and the Continuity of Mind and Matter, Part II,” Cognitio 12 (2), July-December 2011. [View Publication]

    “Peircean Semiotic Indeterminacy and Its Relevance for Biosemiotics,” in Peirce and Biosemiotics, ed. Vinicius Romanini, Springer, 2014. [View Publication]

  • Skills and Resources

    Pragmatism / American Philosophy

    Pragmatism is the only major tradition of philosophy indigenous to the United States. It is thus the primary topic of books, classes, and other works dealing with "American Philosophy." Classical pragmatists include Charles Peirce, William James and John Dewey. More recent "neo-pragmatists" include Richard Rorty and Susan Haack. Despite great differences among the views of the various pragmatists, what unifies them is their concern to understand traditional philosophical concepts and issues (including truth, reality and knowledge) in terms of human action and experience.

    Medical Ethics

    Bioethics is the area of ethics that deals with concrete issues arising within the medical professions and sciences. My specific expertise includes the moral debates surrounding abortion and human cloning.

    Metaphysics

    Metaphysics is the area of philosophy that asks basic questions about how the world is. Within this area, my specializations are questions about truth and reality.