The Self as Story: Narrative Identity and Its Discontents
We tell ourselves we are the authors of our lives. But the neuroscience of memory suggests the narrator is unreliable — and perhaps always …
Read more →Scholar - Author - Educator
Dr. Nishanth K S
Professor of Cognitive Science & Philosophy of Mind
Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Dept. of Brain & Cognitive Sciences
I study how subjective experience arises from physical processes — and what the answer implies for consciousness, artificial minds, and moral status. My work bridges analytic philosophy, empirical neuroscience, and the ethics of emerging technology.
NK
In Academia
Education and Positions
2013 – ****
Associate Professor of Philosophy
University of Edinburgh
- Wroking as the ...
2010 – 2013
Research Fellow
Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics
2007 – 2010
DPhil, Philosophy of Mind
University of Oxford
2005 – 2007
MPhil, Philosophy
University of Cambridge
2002 – 2005
BA, Cognitive Science
University of Edinburgh
About
Mapping the mind's uncharted territory
My intellectual home is the hard problem of consciousness — the question of why physical processes give rise to inner experience at all. I approach this through three lenses: metaphysical analysis, cognitive neuroscience, and applied ethics for AI systems.
Before joining MIT, I held positions at the University of Edinburgh and the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics. I completed my doctorate at Oxford under the supervision of Prof. John Hare, with a dissertation on higher-order theories of consciousness.
Outside the academy I write for Aeon, Nautilus, and The Atlantic, bringing philosophy of mind to broader audiences.
Research
Areas of inquiry
My work spans three intertwined research programs, each asking a version of the same question from a different angle.
🧠
Philosophy of Consciousness
Exploring the hard problem — why physical states give rise to subjective experience. I develop and defend a form of illusionism that reconceives phenomenal properties without eliminativism.
🤖
AI Minds & Moral Status
When, if ever, would an artificial system deserve moral consideration? I argue that functional integration — not substrate — is the right criterion, with significant implications for AI governance.
🔬
Cognitive Neuroscience of Self
Collaborative empirical work on how the brain constructs a sense of self across time, including studies of dissociative disorders, meditation, and predictive processing.
⚖️
Ethics of Mind Technology
Brain–computer interfaces, psychedelic therapies, and cognitive enhancement — examining the ethical terrain when we alter the mind deliberately and irreversibly.
📖
History of Philosophy of Mind
Tracing how Descartes, Hume, James, and Husserl grappled with consciousness, and what their partial successes and failures still teach us about contemporary debates.
🌐
Public Philosophy
Writing for general audiences in Aeon, Nautilus, and The Atlantic; advising government bodies on AI consciousness policy; and hosting the podcast The Observing Mind.
Publications
Featured work
Selected from 12 publications. Full list on the publications page.
2024
Conference on AI and Society (CAIS 2024), Berlin
2021
In K. Lee (Ed.), Ethics of Emerging Technologies. Oxford University Press
2017
MIT Press · 278 pp.
Blog
Latest writing
Longer reflections on consciousness, technology, and the philosophy of everyday mental life.
What Would a Conscious AI Actually Feel?
The question sounds like science fiction, but it demands philosophical precision. I argue that asking ‘what it’s like’ to …
Read more →What Would a Conscious AI Actually Feel?
The question sounds like science fiction, but it demands philosophical precision. I argue that asking ‘what it’s like’ to …
Read more →Contact
Get in touch
I welcome correspondence from researchers, students, journalists, and anyone curious about philosophy of mind. I try to respond to all email, though it may take a few weeks during the semester.
Email
evoss@mit.edu
Office
Building 46, Room 4053 · Cambridge, MA 02139
Office Hours
Tuesdays 2–4 pm & by appointment
Department
+1 (617) 253-0000