Episode 321: The Worlds a stage

In the late 1970s, Fetzer received a National Science Foundation fellowship, and contributed a chapter to a book on Hans Reichenbach. In 1990, Fetzer received the Medal of the University of Helsinki. He assisted theorists in computer science and joined the debate over proper types of inference in computing. In the late 1990s, Fetzer was called to organize a symposium on philosophy of mind and authored textbooks on cognitive science and artificial intelligence. He is an expert on philosopher Carl G. Hempel.

Fetzer published over 100 articles and 20 books on the philosophy of science and the philosophy of cognitive science, especially of artificial intelligence and computer science. In 2002, Fetzer wrote Consciousness Evolving, a collection of studies on the past, the present, and the future of consciousness. The book is divided into three sections: how and why consciousness evolved, special consciousness capacities such as language, creativity, and mentality, and the prospects for artificial consciousness. He founded the international journal Minds and Machines, which he edited for 11 years, and founded the academic library Studies in Cognitive Systems, of which he was the series editor. He founded the Society for Machines & Mentality. Near and after retirement, Fetzer remained a contributor as well as cited or republished in the philosophy of science and cognitive science volumes and encyclopedias