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.Donald MacKenzie, "A view from Sonnelbichl: On the historical sociology of software and system dependability", in Ulf Hashagen, Reinhard Keil-Slawik, Arthur L Norberg & Heinz Nixdorf, eds, "History of Computing: Software Issues" (Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer-Verlag, 2002), p 112: "Conversely, the claims of the formalizers have been fiercely contested by computer scientists Richard DeMillo, Richard Lipton and Alan Perlis, as well as by philosopher James H Fetzer".</ref> In the late 1990s, Fetzer was called to organize a symposium on philosophy of mind, and authored textbooks on cognitive science and artificial intelligence.John Heil, "Philosophy of Mind: A Contemporary Introduction", 2nd edn (New York: Routledge, 2004), ch 1 "Introduction", subch 1.5 "A look ahead", § "Suggested reading", p 14, recommends Fetzer's "Philosophy and Cognitive Science".</ref> He is an expert on philosopher Carl G. Hempel.