Claudia Maria Passos Ferreira
Claudia Passos Ferreira
Assistant Professor of Bioethics
-
Professional overview
-
Claudia Passos-Ferreira is Assistant Professor of Bioethics. She studied psychology at the Rio de Janeiro State University and earned her MA and Ph.D. in the program of Human Sciences and Health Sciences in Public Health there. She obtained a second Ph.D. in Philosophy at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
Passos-Ferreira has published on philosophy, psychology, and neuroethics. She has collaborated in crosscultural research on moral development and social cognition (on topics such as empathy, fairness, ownership, intersubjectivity). She has published a book on Freud and mental causation. In philosophy of mind, she has published on self-knowledge, introspection, and external mental content. Passos-Ferreira’s current research program focuses on the development of consciousness, including what theories of consciousness say about infant consciousness and machine consciousness, and how these theories shed light on ethical issues.
Prior to joining NYU, Passos-Ferreira was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro with the Ethics and Biotechnologies project., and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the State University of Rio de Janeiro with the Ecological Mind and Self-Consciousness project. Earlier in her career, she was awarded a Residency Scholarship from the Brazilian Health Ministry and she received clinical training in Child-Adolescent Mental Health and Mental Health. She has worked as clinical psychologist in private practice and public hospitals as well in Brazil.
-
Education
-
BA, Psychology, Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilMA and PhD, Human Sciences and Health Sciences in Public Health, Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, BrazilPhD, Philosophy, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
-
Publications
Publications
Imaginação e Agir Moral (Imagination and Moral Agency)
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Abstract~Infant Consciousness: How, Where, Whether, When, What?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Abstract~Infant Consciousness: How, Where, Whether, When, What?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2025Abstract~A Emergência da Perspectiva da Primeira Pessoa (Emergence of First-Person Perspective)
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Lampiao Revista de FilosofiaAbstract~As Origens da Interioridade (The Origins of Interiority)
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Can we detect consciousness in newborn infants?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C., & Passos-Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
NeuronVolume
112Issue
10Page(s)
1520-1523AbstractConscious experiences in infants remain poorly understood. In this NeuroView, Passos-Ferreira discusses recent evidence for and against consciousness in newborn babies. She argues that the weight of evidence from neuroimaging and behavioral studies supports the thesis that newborn infants are conscious.Can We Detect Consciousness in Newborn Infants?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
NeuronAbstractThe article discusses recent evidence for and against consciousness in newborn infants: global oddball detection, functional connectivity networks, the attentional blink, and failures of backward visual masking. I argue that overall, there is a strong case for consciousness in newborns.How Can We Detect Consciousness in Newborn Infants?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Licensing Children to Assist on Institutional Review Board
AbstractOwusu, S. A., & Passos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Journal title
Journal of Medical EthicsAbstract~The development of consciousness in infants
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~Three Potential Tests for Consciousness in Infant
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2024Abstract~A developmental perspective on AI consciousness
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~A developmental perspective on AI consciousness
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~Are infants conscious?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C., & Passos-Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Journal title
Nous-Supplement: Philosophical PerspectivesVolume
37Issue
1Page(s)
308-329AbstractI argue that newborn infants are conscious. I propose a methodology for investigating infant consciousness and I present two approaches for determining whether newborns are conscious. First, I consider behavioral and neurobiological markers of consciousness.Second, I investigate the major theories of consciousness, including both philosophical and scientific theories, and I discuss what they predict about infant consciousness.Empathizing with the Intellectually Disabled
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C., & Passos-Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~Empathizing with The Intellectually Disabled
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.). (A. P. Barbosa-Fohrmann & S. Caponi, Eds.).Publication year
2023Page(s)
3AbstractThis chapter is devoted to reflecting on the role of empathy in interactions with people with profound intellectual disabilities. We have a duty to respect people with intellectual disabilities. Respect involves identification with a point of view. We owe them an effort at identification with their perspective. However, if intellectually disabled people’s communicative abilities are impaired, our apprehension of their point of view might be limited, reducing our ability to identify with them and respect them. To answer this challenge, I appeal to empathy. Through imaginative empathy, we can learn to identify with their perspectives. I argue that empathy is a good moral guide and can be helpful in developing respectful attitudes toward people with profound intellectual disabilities.Varieties of Infant Experience
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~Varieties of Infant Experience
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~What do recurrent processing theories predict about infant consciousness?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~What do theories of consciousness predict about infant consciousness
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~What do theories of consciousness predict about infant consciousness?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~What Do Theories of Consciousness Predict About the Onset of Infant Consciousness?
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2023Abstract~Freud's views on mental causation
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C., & Passos-Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2022Page(s)
69-87Abstract~Editorial introduction symposium on pain amnesia and qualitative memory
AbstractPassos Ferreira, C., & Passos-Ferreira, C. (n.d.).Publication year
2020Journal title
Journal of Consciousness StudiesVolume
27Issue
11-12Page(s)
99-101Abstract~