Philosophy

Richard Kimberly Heck received their PhD from MIT in 1991 and have taught at Brown since 2005. Heck is best known for their work on Gottlob Frege's philosophy of logic and mathematics, having written two books on that topic: Frege's Theorem and Reading Frege's Grundgesetze, both from Oxford University Press.

Heck has also worked extensively on philosophy of language, philosophy of logic, and philosophy of mind, publishing a collection of essays, Modes of Representation in 2024, also with Oxford. Most recently, however, they have been working on a range of issues concerning gender and sexuality. Concerning the former, Heck is primarily interested in understanding the notion of gender identity, that is, the subjective experience of oneself as a gendered person. Concerning the latter, Heck is working toward a book on pornography, with special attention to the transformative potential of queer and feminist pornography.

Heck is also Professor of Linguistics. They are a member of the editorial board of Philosophia Mathematica.