About
J. Acacio de Barros
Professor of Philosophy, San Francisco State University. Trained as a physicist; working, for a long time now, on the questions physics raises but does not settle.
I am a Professor of Philosophy at San Francisco State University, where I have taught since 2007 and where I direct the School of Liberal Studies. From 1995 to 2011, I also held an Associate Professorship in the Physics Department at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, in Minas Gerais, Brazil. I am a Corresponding Member of the Brazilian Academy of Philosophy.
I was trained as a physicist — my bachelor’s degree is from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and my master’s degree and doctorate are both from the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF) in Rio de Janeiro — and my work has moved steadily from physics toward the philosophical questions that physics raises without settling.
An interdisciplinary background
My work has sat between fields for most of my career. It began in mathematical physics and quantum cosmology — my doctoral dissertation was on undecidability and incompleteness in physics, and my master’s thesis on Cohen’s generic sets and their applications to physics — and moved from there to the foundations and philosophy of quantum mechanics, probability and contextuality, and questions about cognition and mind.
That range is not incidental to where I work. Since 2007 my academic home at SF State has been an interdisciplinary one: I teach the theory and practice of interdisciplinary inquiry as well as the physical sciences and mathematics, and I have directed the School of Humanities and Liberal Studies and, since 2022, the School of Liberal Studies. The courses are described under Teaching; the research itself is described under Research.
Education and academic trajectory
Education
-
1991
Ph.D., Physics. Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF), Brazil.
-
1989
M.S., Physics. Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF), Brazil.
-
1988
B.S., Physics. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Brazil.
Selected appointments
Fall 2026–
Professor of Philosophy. San Francisco State University.
Formal departmental appointment effective Fall 2026.
2022–present
Director of the School of Liberal Studies. San Francisco State University.
Current term concludes December 2026.
2021–2022
Director of the School of Humanities and Liberal Studies. San Francisco State University.
Interim Director, 2018–2019.
2018–2026
Professor of Liberal Studies (Physical Sciences). San Francisco State University.
Assistant Professor 2007–2013; Associate Professor 2013–2018.
2016
Visiting Scholar, Production Engineering Department. Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
2005–2007
Visiting Associate Professor of Physics, Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI). Stanford University.
1998–2000
Visiting Associate Professor of Physics, Center for the Study of Language and Information (CSLI). Stanford University.
1995–2011
Associate Professor of Physics. Federal University of Juiz de Fora, Brazil.
Tenured from 1997.
1991–1994
Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar, then Physical Sciences Associate Researcher, Institute for Mathematical Studies in the Social Sciences (IMSSS). Stanford University.
A selection. The complete record of positions is in the CV.
Research interests
Most of my research is on the foundations and philosophy of physics — particularly the foundations of quantum mechanics, and how the mathematical formalism of quantum mechanics informs us about problems outside of physics. Most recently I have been focusing on indistinguishability in physics and how it relates to the principles that define quantum mechanics. A second, long-running line of work concerns cognition, mind, and the brain.
A statement of purpose
From the mission statement written for the previous version of this site.
As a professor, particularly in the School of Liberal Studies at SF State, I enjoy tremendous academic freedom. It is, therefore, my responsibility to work on issues that are not only fun but also relevant. I will strive to choose research and teaching topics I enjoy knowing about and working on. I will keep on working to achieve a deeper understanding and never believe that whatever knowledge I have is sufficient. I believe that relevance comes from depth.
I also believe I owe my students much more than just depth of knowledge. As an educator, I will connect my intellectual interests to those in my classes by making my teaching subjects more attractive, listening to my students, and incorporating their needs. As an educator, I know how science and mathematics can become sources of inequality. I will work to reduce those inequalities, fostering classroom environments where all my students can learn.
Academic lineage
My principal doctoral advisor was Francisco Antonio Doria, who completed his doctorate at the Brazilian Center for Research in Physics (CBPF) in 1977 under Leopoldo Nachbin. The usual mathematical-genealogy chain then runs from Nachbin to Laurent Schwartz, and from Schwartz to Georges Valiron. Valiron completed his doctorate at the University of Paris in 1914 under Émile Borel; Borel’s doctoral work was supervised by Gaston Darboux.
Genealogical databases extend this line farther back through nineteenth-century French mathematics. At that distance, however, the modern notion of a formal doctoral adviser becomes increasingly anachronistic. I therefore treat those earlier links as intellectual genealogy rather than as literal Ph.D. supervision.
Patrick Suppes was another major mentor and collaborator. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy at Columbia University in 1950 under Ernest Nagel. Nagel was strongly influenced by Morris R. Cohen; Cohen earned his Harvard doctorate in 1906 and studied with figures including William James, Hugo Münsterberg, and Josiah Royce.
As a curiosity, my Erdős number is 4 through Patrick Suppes, Dana Scott, Alfred Tarski, and Paul Erdős. This coauthorship chain is retained here as a curiosity rather than part of the formal academic genealogy.
Affiliations and appointments
Memberships
- Brazilian Academy of Philosophy (ABF), Corresponding Member, 2016–present
- Brazilian Physical Society (SBF)
- American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT)
- Association for Mathematical Consciousness Science (AMCS)
- Center for Contextuality in Physics and the Social Sciences, Purdue University
- Center for the Explanation of Consciousness, Stanford University
- Institute for Quantum Social and Cognitive Science (IQSCS)
Selected editorial and advisory roles
- Editorial Board, Quantum Economics and Finance, Sage, 2023–present
- Editorial Board, Series of the Academia Brasileira de Filosofia, College Publications
- Board Member, Center for Contextuality in Physics and the Social Sciences, Purdue University, 2015–present
- Council Member, Institute for Quantum Social and Cognitive Science, University of Leicester, 2014–present
- Associate Editor, Activitas Nervosa Superior, Springer, 2017–2020
Contact
Email: barros@sfsu.edu
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
Amicus Plato — amicus Aristoteles — magis amica veritas.