Miriam Schleifer McCormick, author of Belief As Emotion, will discuss her book with Ripley Stroud, the Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow at Princeton University's Society of Fellows and lecturer in philosophy, and Marianna Ganapini, associate professor in UNC Charlotte's Department of Philosophy and School of Data Science, as The University of Baltimore's Hoffberger Center for Ethical Engagement continues its Author Meets Critics series, on Wednesday, Nov. 11, beginning at 11 a.m. in Room 412 of the Bogomolny Library, 1420 Maryland Ave. The event is free and open to the public, and both an in-person and online option will be available. A luncheon will be served to in-person guests. Registration details are listed below.
Dr. McCormick serves as a professor of philosophy and the Lewis T. Booker Professor in Ethics at the University of Richmond, where she is also chair of the Department of Philosophy. Published in 2025, Belief As Emotion "argues that belief is a type of emotion, where emotions are understood as irreducibly blended states that transcend the cognitive/non-cognitive divide, containing representational, motivational and phenomenological elements," according to an abstract from the book's publisher, Oxford University Press.
"On this view to believe is to feel that the way one represents the world is accurate and this feeling is a kind of evaluation. This view helps explain a number of puzzling phenomena in epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of action, and philosophy of religion. Further, thinking of beliefs as emotions helps us to understand the ethics of belief. It offers a better understanding of what are sometimes called 'edge cases' of beliefs, ones that seem belief-like but that are hard to fit into most standard pictures of belief. These include delusions, religious and political attitudes, and belief in the context of trust."
To register for this event, go here. Upon registration, attendees will receive a Zoom link if they would like to join online.
Learn more about the Hoffberger Center for Ethical Engagement and the Bogomolny Library.