A Philosopher Among the MacArthur Fellows

Felipe De Brigard, professor of philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience at Duke University, principal investigator at the Imagination and Modal Cognition Lab, and core faculty of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, has been selected as a 2026 Fellow by the MacArthur Foundation. . MacArthur Fellowships, commonly referred to as “genius grants,” come with an $800,000, no-strings-attached award. In the prize announcement, the Foundation says: Felipe De Brigard is a philosopher and cognitive scientist reshaping our understanding of the nature and function of memory. He integrates tools and frameworks from philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience in theoretical and empirical investigations into how memory relates to other cognitive functions, such as causal and moral judgement, imagination, and forgiveness. The traditional conception of episodic memory is that it functions as an archive, holding and reproducing memories, so one can recall specific…