Educational Background & Work Experience

• Lecturer, School of Foreign Languages, East China Normal University

• PhD in Linguistics, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University;

• Visting Fellow, Psychology Department, Harvard University

• M. A. in Linguistics, School of Foreign Languages, Shanghai Jiao Tong University;

• M.A. in Linguistics, Lancaster University, UK.

• B.A. English Major, Jilin University

Teaching and Research

Bio

I am currently an associate professor (tenure-track) in the English department at the School of Foreign Languages at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU). Prior to this position, I was a lecturer at East China Normal University.

My research interests include philosophy of language and experimental philosophy, experimental pragmatics and semantics.

*Note: The English department in the Chinese academic context includes people specializing in theoretical linguistics, applied linguistics, English language and literature, translation, and others :))

Research Projects & Grants: 

• National Social Science Foundation of China. 2021-2024. (21CZX065, ¥ 200,000).

• Shanghai Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science. 2019-2022. (2019EZX006, ¥ 60,000).

• China Postdoctoral Science Foundation. 2019-2023. (2019M651444, ¥ 50,000)

• East China Normal University Youth Pre-Research Grant. 2020-2022. (¥ 40,000)

• Fundamental Research Funds for Central Universities, East China Normal University (2018ECNU-HLYT023, ¥ 50,000).

Publications:

Book:

• Jincai Li. 2023. The Referential Mechanism of Proper Names. Cross-cultural Investigations into Referential Intuitions. Routledge, London. https://www.routledge.com/The-Referential-Mechanism-of-Proper-Names-Cross-cultural-Investigations-into-Referential-Intuitions/Li/p/book/9780367497712

Two book reviews in Mind & Language: 

• Devitt, M. (2023). Red herrings in experimental semantics: Cultural variation and epistemic perspectives. A critical notice of Jincai Li's The referential mechanism of proper names. Mind & Language, 38(4), 1147–1156. https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12468

• D'Agruma, N. (2023). From the epistemic perspectives in experimental semantics to the ambiguity of proper names: Is the inference warranted? A critical notice of Jincai Li's The referential mechanism of proper names. Mind & Language, 38(4), 1138–1146. https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12472

Journal Articles: 

• Papers in English

1. Jincai Li. Sep 2023. Cross-cultural Variation and Perspectivalism: Alignment of Two Red Herrings? Mind & Language, 38(4): 1157-1163. (SSCI/A&HCI)  https://doi.org/10.1111/mila.12470

2. Jincai Li & Zhu Xiaozhen. 2023. Twenty Years of Experimental Philosophy Research. Metaphilosophy, 54:29–53. (A&HCI)  https://doi.org/10.1111/meta.12602

3. Jincai Li. 2021. The Origin of Cross-cultural Differences in Referential Intuitions: Perspective Taking in the Gödel Case. Journal of Semantics, 38 (3): 415-440. (SSCI/A&HCI) https://doi.org/10.1093/jos/ffab010

4. Jincai Li, Longgen Liu, Elizabeth Chalmers, Jesse Snedeker. 2018. What is in a name? The development of cross-cultural differences in referential intuitions. Cognition,171: 108-111. (SSCI/A&HCI) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2017.10.02

• Papers in Chinese

1. Jincai Li et al. 2024. Tracing the Origins of Knowledge of Language: Where Does Children’s and Machines’ Knowledge of Language Come From? Journal of Dialectics of Nature. 1-11. 

2. Jincai Li. 2022. Solutions to Puzzles of Reference of Names: An Experimental Approach in Philosophy of Language. Foreign Language Learning Theory and Practice. (2): 19-29.

3. Jincai Li & Longgen Liu. 2015. Experimental Turn in Philosophy of Language. Contemporary Linguistics, 3:273-283.

4. Jincai Li & Longgen Liu. Linguistic Expertise and Semantic Intuitions. Computer-Assisted Foreign Language Education, 2:17-24, 2014.

5. Xiaozhen, Zhu & Jincai Li. 2023. A Contextualist Account of Contemporary Philosophy of Language: A Case Study of Investigation into François Recanati’s Philosophy of Language. Contemporary Foreign Languages Studies, 23(2): 147-153.

6. Xin Xin, Guiqin Ren, Jincai Li, Xiaoyu Tang. 2017. The Characteristics and Mechanisms of Audiovisual Integration: Evidence from Mismatch Negativity. Advances in Psychological Science, 25(5):757-768.

7. Longgen Liu, Sijing Wu & Jincai Li. 2014. On the Meaning of Intuition in/to the Philosophy of Language. Philosophical Inquiry, 3:157-174.

Conference presentations: 

1. Revisiting Cross-cultural Style of Semantics. Philosophy of Language and Linguistics, Inter University Center, Dubrovnik, Croatia, Sep 2024. 

2. Integrating Tools in Experimental Philosophy of Language. Experimental Semantics in Philosophy Workshop, Trondheim, Norway, May 2024.

3. Does Moral Valence Affects Reference Making? 46th Annual Meeting of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology, Princeton University, New Jersey, USA. July 2021.

4. Perspective Taking and Reference Fixing: The Cause of the Cross-cultural Differences in Referential Intuitions. 45th Annual Meeting of the Society of Philosophy and Psychology, University of California, San Diego, USA. July 2019.

5. The Mechanism of Reference. Cross-cultural Experimental Semantics. The 2017 Pacific Division meeting of the American Philosophical Association. Seattle, USA. (Online presentation). April 2017.  

6. What is in a name? An investigation into the mechanism of reference of proper names. The ECOM Fall 16 Workshop: What is in a word? University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, USA.

7. Behind Names: Theorizing about Reference in the Era of Experimental Philosophy. Buffalo Annual Experimental Philosophy Conference, Buffalo, USA. Sep. 2016.     

8. What is in a name? The origin and development of cross-cultural differences in the semantics of proper names. The 42nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology, Austin, USA. June 2016.     

Translated books:

1. Longgen Liu & Jincai Li. 2021. Direct reference by François Recanati (1993). China Renmin University Press, Beijing.
2. Longgen Liu & Jincai Li. 2016. Lying, Misleading, and What is Said: An Exploration in Philosophy of Language and in Ethics by Jennifer M. Saul (2012). Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press, Shanghai.
3. Longgen Liu & Jincai Li. 2015. Assessment Sensitivity--Relative Truth and its Applications by John MacFarlane (2014). Foreign Language Research Press, Beijing.

Professional Service

Reviewers of Philosophical Studies, Linguistics & Philosophy, Asian Journal of Philosophy, etc.