Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera

@psychologie.uni-konstanz.de

Department of Psychology, Normativity Lab
University of Konstanz

Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera


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https://researchid.co/idgonzalezc
21/12/2021 - present: Research Associate, Professor Marco F. H. Schmidt’s Normativity Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Konstanz (Germany)
01/10/2020 - 31/12/2023: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Professor Rebekka Hufendiek’s Research Group, Institute of Philosophy, University of Bern (Switzerland)
01/03/2018 - 28/03/2020: KLI Postdoctoral Fellow, Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research (Austria)
01/09/2014 - 31/12/2015: Research Fellow, Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Germany)

EDUCATION

15/12/2017: Australian National University, Ph.D., Philosophy
Thesis: Sharing our normative worlds: A theory of normative thinking
(Nominated for the Crawford Prize Award as the best Ph.D. Thesis of 2017 by the Faculty of Philosophy at ANU)
Supervisory Panel: Kim Sterelny (chair), Ben Fraser, Brett Calcott
17/03/2009: National University of Colombia, M.Phil., Philosophy (concentration in philosophy of mind and biology)
Thesis: A multilevel selection theory as an explanation of cooperation by policing and punishment
Supervisor: Alejandro Rosas, 28/03/2006: National University of Colombia
B.A., Philosophy
Honors: The problem of the units of selection
Supervisor: Alejandro Rosas

RESEARCH, TEACHING, or OTHER INTERESTS

Philosophy, Psychology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
9

Scopus Publications

341

Scholar Citations

7

Scholar h-index

4

Scholar i10-index

Scopus Publications

  • How to Build a Normative Creature
    Michael Tomasello, Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera
    New Essays on Normative Realism, 2025
    From an evolutionary point of view, the most basic normative ideals are goals: potential states of affairs that the organism imagines and values over others and so acts to realize (with the possibility of both success and failure). Beyond such instrumental normativity, humans operate, in addition, with a fundamentally social form of normativity: they decide what one ought to know and do to coordinate rationally and morally with others in the rational/moral community. Individuals coordinate their actions with others via agreed-upon sociomoral norms or ideals, and they coordinate their thinking with others via agreed-upon epistemic norms or ideals. These norms and ideals have special force and universal reach (what ‘one’ ought to know and do) because they are not personal preferences but rather what ‘we’ can justify to one another via an idealized and externalized rational/moral order; they are ‘objective’. In this chapter, we attempt to explicate the foundations of human normative functioning, beginning with its evolutionary roots in instrumental normativity and ending with its species-unique forms of social normativity.
  • Beyond minimalism: why objectivity matters for metaethical moral realism
    Philosophical Psychology, 2025
  • Thresholds of human cooperation: constructing the developmental niche of shared intentionality
    Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Biology and Philosophy, 2024
  • A lineage explanation of human normative guidance: the coadaptive model of instrumental rationality and shared intentionality
    Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Synthese, 2022
    This paper aims to contribute to the existing literature on normative cognition by providing a lineage explanation of human social norm psychology. This approach builds upon theories of goal-directed behavioral control in the reinforcement learning and control literature, arguing that this form of control defines an important class of intentional normative mental states that are instrumental in nature. I defend the view that great ape capacities for instrumental reasoning and our capacity (or family of capacities) for shared intentionality coadapted to each other and argue that the evolution of this capacity has allowed the representation of social norms and the emergence of our capacity for normative guidance.
  • Generalized model for scores in volleyball matches
    Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera, Diego Dario Herrera, Diego Luis González
    Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports, 2020
    We propose a Markovian model to calculate the winning probability of a set in a volleyball match. Traditional models take into account that the scoring probability in a rally (SP) depends on whether the team starts the rally serving or receiving. The proposed model takes into account that the different rotations of a team have different SPs. The model also takes into consideration that the SP of a given rotation complex 1 (K1) depends on the players directly involved in that complex. Our results help to design general game strategies and, potentially, more efficient training routines. In particular, we used the model to study several game properties, such as the importance of having serve receivers with homogeneous performance, the effect of the players’ initial positions on score evolution, etc. Finally, the proposed model is used to diagnose the performance of the female Colombian U23 team (U23 CT).
  • The Insularity of Anglophone Philosophy: Quantitative Analyses
    Eric Schwitzgebel, Linus Ta-Lun Huang, Andrew Higgins, Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Philosophical Papers, 2018
    We present evidence that mainstream Anglophone philosophy is insular in the sense that participants in this academic tradition tend mostly to cite or interact with other participants in this academic tradition, while having little academic interaction with philosophers writing in other languages. Among our evidence: In a sample of articles from elite Anglophone philosophy journals, 97% of citations are citations of work originally written in English; 96% of members of editorial boards of elite Anglophone philosophy journals are housed in majority-Anglophone countries; and only one of the 100 most-cited recent authors in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy spent most of his career in non-Anglophone countries writing primarily in a language other than English. In contrast, philosophy articles published in elite Chinese-language and Spanish-language journals cite from a range of linguistic traditions, as do non-English-language articles in a convenience sample of established European-language journals. We also find evidence that work in English has more influence on work in other languages than vice versa and that when non-Anglophone philosophers cite recent work outside of their own linguistic tradition it tends to be work in English.
  • Moving beyond dichotomies: Liao, s. matthew (ed.), moral brains: The neuroscience of morality, oxford university press, 2016
    Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Biology and Philosophy, 2017
  • Children's developing metaethical judgments
    Marco F.H. Schmidt, Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera, Michael Tomasello
    Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2017
  • The Role of Ontogeny in the Evolution of Human Cooperation
    Michael Tomasello, Ivan Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Human Nature, 2017

RECENT SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • Beyond minimalism: why objectivity matters for metaethical moral realism
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Philosophical Psychology, 1-23 , 2025
    2025
  • How To Build a Normative Creature
    M Tomasello, I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    New Essays on Normative Realism, 293–317 , 2025
    2025
  • O papel da ontogenia na evolução da cooperação humana
    M Tomasello, I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Ambivalências 13 (25), 249-271 , 2025
    2025
  • Thresholds of human cooperation: constructing the developmental niche of shared intentionality
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Biology & Philosophy 39 (6), 36 , 2024
    2024
  • Rally-Based Performance Evaluation Model for Highly Competitive Volleyball
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera, DL González, DD Herrera
    SportRxiv , 2024
    2024
  • A lineage explanation of human normative guidance: the coadaptive model of instrumental rationality and shared intentionality
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Synthese 200 (6), 493 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 8
  • Michael Tomasello, Becoming human: a theory of ontogeny, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019, xi+ 379 pp, $35.00/£ 28.95/€ 31.50
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 42 (4), 1-5 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 1
  • The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve by Steve Stewart-Williams
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    The Quarterly Review of Biology 95 (1), 150 , 2020
    2020
  • Cecilia Heyes, Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2018, ix+ 292 pp., $31.50/£ 25.95 …
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 42 (2), 1-5 , 2020
    2020
  • Generalized model for scores in volleyball matches
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera, DD Herrera, DL González
    Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 16 (1), 41-55 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 7
  • The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve. By Steve Stewart-Williams. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. $27.95. xii+ 368 p.; ill …
    I GONZALEZ-CABRERA
    QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 95 (2), 150 , 2020
    2020
  • On social tolerance and the evolution of human normative guidance
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70 (2), 523-549 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 13
  • The insularity of anglophone philosophy: Quantitative analyses
    E Schwitzgebel, LTL Huang, A Higgins, I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Philosophical Papers 47 (1), 21-48 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 43
  • Peer Competition and Cooperation
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science 1, 1-18 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 7
  • Moving beyond dichotomies: Liao, S. Matthew (ed.), Moral Brains: The Neuroscience of Morality, Oxford University Press, 2016
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Biology & Philosophy 32 (6), 1035-1046 , 2017
    2017
  • Children’s developing metaethical judgments
    MFH Schmidt, I Gonzalez-Cabrera, M Tomasello
    Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 164, 163-177 , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 73
  • The role of ontogeny in the evolution of human cooperation
    M Tomasello, I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Human Nature 28 (3), 274-288 , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 187
  • Sharing our normative worlds: A theory of normative thinking
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Australian National University , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 2

MOST CITED SCHOLAR PUBLICATIONS

  • The role of ontogeny in the evolution of human cooperation
    M Tomasello, I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Human Nature 28 (3), 274-288 , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 187
  • Children’s developing metaethical judgments
    MFH Schmidt, I Gonzalez-Cabrera, M Tomasello
    Journal of Experimental Child Psychology 164, 163-177 , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 73
  • The insularity of anglophone philosophy: Quantitative analyses
    E Schwitzgebel, LTL Huang, A Higgins, I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Philosophical Papers 47 (1), 21-48 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 43
  • On social tolerance and the evolution of human normative guidance
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 70 (2), 523-549 , 2019
    2019
    Citations: 13
  • A lineage explanation of human normative guidance: the coadaptive model of instrumental rationality and shared intentionality
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Synthese 200 (6), 493 , 2022
    2022
    Citations: 8
  • Generalized model for scores in volleyball matches
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera, DD Herrera, DL González
    Journal of Quantitative Analysis in Sports 16 (1), 41-55 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 7
  • Peer Competition and Cooperation
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science 1, 1-18 , 2018
    2018
    Citations: 7
  • Sharing our normative worlds: A theory of normative thinking
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Australian National University , 2017
    2017
    Citations: 2
  • Michael Tomasello, Becoming human: a theory of ontogeny, Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2019, xi+ 379 pp, $35.00/£ 28.95/€ 31.50
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 42 (4), 1-5 , 2020
    2020
    Citations: 1
  • Beyond minimalism: why objectivity matters for metaethical moral realism
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Philosophical Psychology, 1-23 , 2025
    2025
  • How To Build a Normative Creature
    M Tomasello, I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    New Essays on Normative Realism, 293–317 , 2025
    2025
  • O papel da ontogenia na evolução da cooperação humana
    M Tomasello, I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Ambivalências 13 (25), 249-271 , 2025
    2025
  • Thresholds of human cooperation: constructing the developmental niche of shared intentionality
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Biology & Philosophy 39 (6), 36 , 2024
    2024
  • Rally-Based Performance Evaluation Model for Highly Competitive Volleyball
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera, DL González, DD Herrera
    SportRxiv , 2024
    2024
  • The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve by Steve Stewart-Williams
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    The Quarterly Review of Biology 95 (1), 150 , 2020
    2020
  • Cecilia Heyes, Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2018, ix+ 292 pp., $31.50/£ 25.95 …
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences 42 (2), 1-5 , 2020
    2020
  • The Ape That Understood the Universe: How the Mind and Culture Evolve. By Steve Stewart-Williams. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press. $27.95. xii+ 368 p.; ill …
    I GONZALEZ-CABRERA
    QUARTERLY REVIEW OF BIOLOGY 95 (2), 150 , 2020
    2020
  • Moving beyond dichotomies: Liao, S. Matthew (ed.), Moral Brains: The Neuroscience of Morality, Oxford University Press, 2016
    I Gonzalez-Cabrera
    Biology & Philosophy 32 (6), 1035-1046 , 2017
    2017