Archive for September, 2012

Workshop Series ‘Self-Consciousness & Kinds of Self’

7 months ago
by Thomas Jacobi in

WORKSHOP II – 5 & 6 November
———————————————-

(see also Workshop I: 8 — 9 Oct , and Workshop III: 3 — 4 December)

Organised by: Department of Philosophy, University of Fribourg, Avenue de l’Europe 20, Switzerland

http://lettres.unifr.ch/fr/philosophie/philosophie/offredtudes.html

Co-Sponsored by: Olaf Blanke, Laboratory of Neuroscience, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland

SPEAKERS
The Affective Self

  • Jan Slaby, Dept. of Philosophy, Free University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
  • John Lambie, Dept. of Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, UK

Personal Identity

  • Eric Olson, Dept. of Philosophy, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

The Dualistic Self

  • Martine Nida-Rümelin, Dept. of Philosophy, Fribourg University, Switzerland

Self-Knowledge in Agency

  • Lucy O’Brien, Dept. of Philosophy, University College London, London, UK

Everyone welcome | No Registration fee

All enquiries to: thomas.jacobi@unifr.ch

-> For a detailed schedule and the workshop poster, please see:
http://www.philosophie.ch/events/single.php?action=date&eventid=923&month=11&year=2012

VENUE

Salon des Professeurs, Room 2113, Misericorde, Avenue de l’Europe 20, Fribourg, Switzerland

(half-way between first & second floor, by the staircase, same level as cafeteria) http://www.unifr.ch/map/de/misericorde.php

INTRODUCTION

‘Considered as a unitary object, the self is full of apparent contradictions. It is simultaneously physical and mental, public and private, directly perceived and incorrectly imagined, universal and culture-specific’ (p. 35). ‘[These different aspects or selves] are all experienced, though perhaps not all with the same quality of consciousness. And they are all valued (…)’.

Neisser, U. (1988) Five kinds of Self-Knowledge, Phil. Psychol. 1, 35 – 59 (p. 36)

The question of what self-consciousness, and, more specifically, the sense of self might amount to has been at the very centre of inquiries into the human condition across different ages, cultures and academic disciplines. The answers that have emerged in the past not only revealed different theoretical and practical approaches towards the self, depending on what was assumed that we are aware of in self-consciousness, but also importantly indicated that, in being self-conscious, we take ourselves to be aware of sometimes radically different aspects of the self or indeed of altogether distinct selves.

In these interdisciplinary workshops that draw on sources from philosophy, psychology, psychiatry, and neuroscience, we want to explore how self-consciousness, understood broadly, intimates to us these different aspects of the particular self or kind of self we seemingly are and how these diverse self-related elements (or ‘selves’) not only form a unified whole, if they do, but also how the related conceptions of the self integrate with our general theories and assumptions about the world.

To this end, we will be discussing, inter alia, the phenomenology of self-experience; the (dis)unity of the self; self and agency; biological & evolutionary roots of the self; the emotional/affective self; the idea of a minimal self; the self and the brain; the conceptual versus non-conceptual content of self-consciousness; the embodied self; the first-person versus third-person perspective; the psychopathology of the self; the dualistic nature of the self; the problem of self-knowledge; multi-sensory integration and body awareness; the persistence of the self through time; and prospects for a unified theory of self-consciousness and the self.

Participants in the workshops will have an opportunity to acquire a comprehensive understanding of the diverse aspects surrounding the problem of self-consciousness and the self. Being able to discuss core issues with leading experts in philosophy, psychology and neuroscience will alert participants to the challenges and opportunities in this line of research and will, furthermore, demonstrate to them theoretical and practical strategies of how successful theories of self-consciousness and the self can be formulated.

The organisers wish to acknowledge the kind support of the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF 101115-140203 / 1)

Emotion and Perception

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in

November 08-10, 2012
Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen

In modern theory of emotion the claim that emotions are analogous to perceptions or even a special form of perception is widespread. Emotions and perceptions are said to share important aspects: they both essentially have a phenomenal aspect, they persist in the light of better knowledge and they seem to occupy similar epistemic roles – as perceptions give us access to descriptive features of our environment and justify perceptual judgments, emotions seem to help us to “see” what is of import or value or even what is the right thing to do and justify the corresponding evaluative judgments. However, emotions and perceptions also differ in important aspects as Ronald de Sousa already noticed. The most obvious difference is the absence of sensory organs in the case of the emotions and of course, there are even more sophisticated and threatening disanalogies – one has not to look far for criticism.

As widespread the link between emotion and perception in modern theory of emotion is, it is only rarely critically examined. The conference’s aim is to fill this gap in the theory of emotion and to seriously explore this link between emotion and perception with all its pros and cons and to mark out its possibilities and limits.

Invited Speakers:

  • Peter Railton
  • Tim Crane
  • Achim Stephan
  • Michael Brady
  • Michael Lacewing
  • Jérôme Dokic and Stephane Lemaire
  • Julien Deonna and Fabrice Teronie

The conference is part of the DFG poject “Emotions and Values.” For further information view our homepage:

Organization

Conference chair: Prof. Dr. Sabine Döring, Philosophy Department of the Eberhard Karls University Tübingen.
Co-organizer: Anika Lutz.
Organizational support: Anton Hase.

For questions please contact: anika.lutz@uni-tuebingen.de

Pre-reflective and Reflective Processing in Social Interaction

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

March 12-14, 2012
Elton Room, Clare College, University of Cambridge

This meeting will bring together neuroscientists, psychologists and philosophers interested in the mechanisms underlying social behaviour with the aim of exploring the role of pre-reflective/implicit and reflective/explicit processes of social interaction. In particular, the meeting will combine researchers dedicated to more traditional Theory of Mind accounts, who have largely focused on reflective processes in social cognition, with proponents of an approach that emphasises pre-reflective enactment and engagement in social interactions. The workshop focuses on the conceptual and theoretical contributions of these two approaches to our understanding of social interactions. In addition, the meeting aims to explore whether different theoretical assumptions are needed to understand cooperative and competitive interactions.

Please note: The capacity of the workshop is limited to 35 participants. Priority will therefore be given to those who are actively involved in relevant research and who will present a poster. Details on poster submission can be found below.

Invited Speakers:

  • Ian Apperly (Birmingham)
  • Louise Barrett (Lethbridge)
  • Harold Bekkering (Nijmengen)
  • Stephen Butterfill (Warwick)
  • Chris Frith (Aarhus/Oxford)
  • Bence Nanay (Antwerp)
  • Søren Overgaard (Copenhagen)
  • Natalie Sebanz (Nijmegen)
  • Marc Slors (Nijmegen)

Registration/Poster submission:

If you would like to present a poster at the workshop please submit a short abstract of no more then 500 words to Christoph Teufel (crt35@cam.ac.uk) by February 15th (note deadline in two weeks). If you would like to attend the workshop without presenting a poster please send an e-mail to the above address, indicating how your research is relevant to the topic of the workshop. Successful applicants will be sent an invitation to attend by February 20th. We regret that we cannot subsidise travel or accommodation for poster presenters. However, there will be no conference fee and you will be invited to the dinner at Clare College on Tuesday, March 13th.

This meeting is organised by Vivian Bohl, Marion Godman, Mog Stapleton, Christoph Teufel, Wouter van den Bos, and Marijn van Wingerden.

It is funded by the Volkwagen Foundation as part of a network grant from the European Platform for Life Sciences, Mind Sciences, and the Humanities.

Budapest Program in Cognitive Science

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in

If you have undergraduate students looking for an interesting study abroad experience that will keep them on track in their philosophy, psychology, computer science, or cognitive science major, please point them towards the Budapest Semester in Cognitive Science (http://www.bscs-us.org/).

It is a really good program, and has had regular participation from scholars doing interesting research in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind, such as Colin Allen, John Bickle, Ron Chrisley, Carl Craver, Peter Erdi, and George Kampis.

The official program announcement is below. If you or your students have any questions about the program, please contact Tony Chemero (tony.chemero@fandm.edu) or the program office at bscs@bscs-us.org.

About the program

The BUDAPEST SEMESTER IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE (BSCS, website: http://www.bscs-us.org), our Hungarian study abroad program that may be of interest to undergraduate students in Cognitive Science and other disciplines.

BSCS, established in 2003 focuses on cognitive science from an interdisciplinary perspective and offers credit-earning courses in neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, linguistics, biology, and computer science; as well as continuous and optional intensive Hungarian language courses. The program is complemented by an optional independent research module tailored to students’ curricula and research interests.

BSCS is hosted by the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Eotvos Lorand University (ELTE), Hungary’s premium science university established in 1635 and serving as a centre of excellence for modern higher education. A world-class new campus has been added to the premises of ELTE, built on the scenic banks of the Danube and hosting the Faculties of Natural and Social Sciences and Informatics, where BSCS courses are held.

Budapest provides an excellent and highly inspiring setting and our vibrant metropolis is a hub of a wide range of interdisciplinary studies and research; boasting a bustling Central European experience with a growing English-speaking academic community. Furthermore, the city serves as a gateway to Vienna, Prague and other major attractions of the region.

The application deadline for the Fall 2012 semester is April 15.

Visit our website for more detailed information (http://www.bscs-us.org). Email inquiries to bscs@bscs-us.org, or to Tony Chemero, US Director, tony.chemero@fandm.edu.

Alexander Tamas Research Fellowship: Machine Superintelligence and the Future of AI

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in

with the Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology
Faculty of Philosophy
The Future of Humanity Institute, Oxford Martin School
University of Oxford

Grade 7: £29,099 – £39,107 per annum
Protocol reference number: HUM/11042F/E

Applications are invited for a fixed-term, three-year Research Fellowship within the Oxford Martin Programme on the Impacts of Future Technology, an interdisciplinary programme within the Oxford Martin School at Oxford University.

The Programme, directed by Professor Nick Bostrom, analyzes possibilities related to long-range technological change and potential social impacts of future transformative technologies. Research foci include the future of computing and machine intelligence, existential risks, predictive and evaluative uncertainty, and related philosophical issues. The postholder will research topics related to the long-term future of machine intelligence, focusing on impacts, risks, current technical developments and foundational issues. The post does not involve developing specific AI applications. Possible backgrounds include (but are not restricted to) computer science, mathematics, or philosophy. For further particulars and application details, please see: http://www.fhi.ox.ac.uk/get_involved/future_tech_vacancies/futuretech or contact: futuretech@philosophy.ox.ac.uk.

The deadline for applications is Monday 27th February

European Society for Philosophy and Psychology

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

London, UK
August 28-31, 2012

Call for Papers

20th Annual Meeting of the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology in

Conference website: http://www.eurospp.org/2012
Online submission: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=espp2012

This meeting marks the 20th Anniversary of the ESPP. The occasion will be marked by a symposium in memory of former ESPP president, Marc Jeannerod, and a number of talks by other former ESPP presidents (Josef Perner, John Campbell, and Pierre Jacob). Please join us in London to celebrate 20 years of successful interdisciplinary discussion and collaboration.

Plenary Speakers:

  • John Campbell (Philosophy, University of California, Berkley)
  • Josef Perner (Psychology, University of Salzburg)
  • Hagit Borer (Linguistics, Queen Mary, University of London & University of Southern California)
  • Linda B. Smith (Psychology, Indiana University)

Symposia:

  • ‘In and Out of Experience: Personal and Sub-Personal Explanations in Psychology’ Chair: Barry Smith (Institute of Philosophy, London)
  • ‘The Marc Jeannerod Memorial Symposium’ Chair: Naomi Eilan (ESPP President, University of Warwick)
  • ‘Regret’ Chair: Marcel Zeelenberg (Tilburg University)
  • ‘Mental Agency’ Chair: Joelle Proust (Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris) & Fabian Dorsch (University of Warwick & Fribourg)
  • ‘Understanding and Communication’: there will be three linked symposia on this topic from the projects that form the EuroUnderstanding Programme Chairs: Guenther Knoblich (CEU Budapest), Åsa Wikforss (Stockholm University), Frank Esken (Salzburg University)

General Aim

The aim of the European Society for Philosophy & Psychology is ‘to promote interaction between philosophers and psychologists on issues of common concern’. Psychologists, neuroscientists, linguists, computer scientists and biologists are encouraged to report experimental, theoretical and clinical work that they judge to have philosophical significance; and philosophers are encouraged to engage with the fundamental issues addressed by and arising out of such work. In recent years ESPP sessions have covered such topics as spatial concepts, simulation theory, attention, joint attention, reference, problems of consciousness, introspection and self-report, emotion, perception, early numerical cognition, infants’ understanding of intentionality, memory and time, motor imagery, counterfactuals, the semantics/pragmatics distinction, minimalism in linguistic theory, reasoning, vagueness, mental causation, action and agency, thought without language, externalism, connectionism, hypnosis, and the interpretation of neuropsychological results.

Call for Papers

The Society invites submitted symposia, papers and posters for this meeting.

Submitted papers are refereed and selected on the basis of quality and relevance to psychologists, philosophers and linguists. Papers should not exceed a length of 20 minutes (about 8 double-spaced pages) for a total 30 minute session. Submissions may be by abstract (ca. 500 words) but in the case of philosophical submissions a full paper is preferred. Please state the primary discipline of your paper (philosophy, psychology, or linguistics) by checking the respective box during the online submission process.

The Society also encourages joint submission of papers as symposia topics (for 3 and up to 4 speakers across different disciplines) – the convenor should submit a brief (1000 word) description of the symposium topic in addition to each participant submitting an abstract/paper – all papers considered as part of a submitted symposium will also be considered for independent presentation. The selection of talks in a symposium should be suitable to stimulate interdisciplinary discussion. There may be some financial support available for the travel expenses of symposiasts (partial coverage of costs).

There will also be poster presentations. A submission for a poster presentation should consist of a 500-word abstract. Submitted papers may also be considered for presentation as posters.

All submissions (whether abstracts or full papers) should be in PDF-format and should be properly anonymized in order to allow for blind refereeing.

The deadline for submission of PAPERS and POSTERS is 15 May, 2012

The deadline for submission of SYMPOSIA PROPOSALS is 29th February, 2012

Please use the online submission form to be found at: http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=espp2012 (this requires registering with EasyChair, which is easy to do and free of charge).

If you have any questions, contact us by writing an email to: 2012@eurospp.org

Program chairs:

  • Fabian Dorsch
  • Teresa McCormack
  • Peter Svenonius

Local organization:
Barry Smith, Institute for Philosophy, UCL, London

22nd SIUCC: Jesse Prinz

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

San Sebastián
September 6-8, 2012

Invited Speaker: Jesse Prinz

The IAS-Research Centre for Life, Mind and Society and the Spanish Society for Analytic Philosophy (SEFA) invite submissions on any aspect of the work of the invited guest for the XXIIth edition of the SIUCC, Jesse Prinz, for presentations at the conference, to be held in San Sebastián on September, 6-8, 2012. (Visit the webs of the conference, http://siucc2012.ias-research.net/ and http://www.sefaweb.es/siucc.html)

JESSE PRINZ (B.A. New York University; Ph.D. University of Chicago) is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York, Graduate Center. He is also director of the Committee for Interdisciplinary Science Studies there, and he has held appointments at the Philosophy-Neuroscience-Psychology Program at Washington University in St. Louis, the Center for Advanced Study in Behavioral Science at Stanford, California Institute of Technology, the University of London, the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, and at the University of North Carolina, where he held a named professorship. His research focuses on the perceptual, emotional, and cultural foundations of human psychology. He is author of Furnishing the Mind: Concepts and Their Perception Basis (MIT, 2002), Gut Reactions: A Perceptual Theory of Emotion (Oxford, 2004), The Emotional Construction of Morals (Oxford), Beyond Human Nature (Penguin/Norton, 2011), and The Conscious Brain (Oxford, 2012), along with two edited volumes. All of these books bring research in the cognitive sciences to bear on traditional philosophical questions. Prinz’s work is a contemporary extension of the classical empiricist tradition in philosophy, which emphasises experience, rather than innate knowledge and disembodied, amodal representations in thought.

The SIUCC (Seminario Interuniversitario de Ciencia Cognitiva) annual conferences are three-day workshops, intended to focus on the contributions of an influential philosopher, which have been organized by the Spanish Analytic Community for the past 20 years, under the auspices of the SEFA (http://www.sefaweb.es/) since the creation of the society in 1994. Invited speakers are asked to present three papers, which can be new material or a revision of former work. The seminar intends to trigger discussion and debate through the presentation of 9-12 contributions related to philosophical topics of the invited speakers work. Recent workshops were: XXI, Granada 2011, invited speaker: Jaakko Hintikka; XX, Barcelona, 2010, invited speaker: Crispin Wright; XIX, Zaragoza 2009, invited speaker: Ernest Sosa; XVIII, Madrid 2008, invited speaker: John Perry; XVII, Palma de Mallorca, 2007, invited speaker: Peter Carruthers; Valencia (XVI, 2006, invited speaker: Richard Moran; XV, Madrid 2005, invited speaker: Robert Brandom; XIV, Murcia 2004, invited speaker: John McDowell; XIII, Granada 2003, invited speaker: François Recanati.

Call for Contributions:

The Organizing Committee invites contributions on topics related to Prof. Jesse Prinz’s work. Extended drafts (not less than 2000 words) should be sent to the coordinator of the workshop, Agustin Vicente (gusa@euskaltel.net), before April, 30, 2012. The organization will try to cover accommodation expenses for authors of accepted papers. Authors of accepted papers will be notified before June 10th, 2012.

Organizing Committee:

Agustín Vicente (Ikerbasque/University of the Basque Country), Arantza Etxeberria (University of the Basque Country), Antonio Casado da Rocha (University of the Basque Country), Xabier Barandiaran (University of the Basque Country).

Rudolf Carnap Lectures 2012

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

May 31st – June 2nd, 2012
Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany)

Ned Block & Susan Carey: Attention and Concepts

Call for Papers

We invite graduate students to submit high quality papers related to the themes of the Carnap-Lectures. We also accept papers that are loosely attached to these topics, but still remain in the area of philosophy of mind or developmental psychology. Four selected papers will be presented during a workshop with Susan Carey and Ned Block. Submissions (full papers, no longer than 3000 words) should be sent electronically to Nike Zohm (nike.zohm@rub.de) before April 15th, 2012.

Tentative Schedule

Thursday May 31st

  • 10.15-12.15 Lecture 1: Susan Carey: The Origin of Concepts: A Case Study of Natural Number

  • 15-17.15 Lecture 2: Ned Block: How the nature of attention can decide among the major theories of perception

  • 18.15-20.00 Public Evening Lecture 3: Ned Block: How iconic memory shows that consciousness is fundamentally different from cognition

Friday 1st of June

  • 10.15-13.30 Graduate presentations

  • 15.15-17.15 Lecture 4: Ned Block: Insights about what we see from crowded perception

Saturday 2nd of June

  • 10.15-12.15 Lecture 5: Susan Carey: Core Cognition of the Social World

For more information see: http://www.rub.de/philosophy/carnaplectures

Organization

Prof. Dr. Tobias Schlicht, Prof. Dr. Albert Newen
Institut für Philosophie II
Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Universitätsstr. 150, GA3
44780 Bochum

Foundations of Enactive Cognitive Science

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

February 27-28th, 2012
Cumberland Lodge, Great Park of Windsor

We are excited to announce the organisation of the conference “Foundations of Enactive Cognitive Science”, held . The conference is sponsored by the CINN, with the support of the EPSRC. We also gratefully acknowledge support from the School of Systems Engineering, at the Univ. of Reading, the Society for the Study of Artificial Intelligence and Simulation of Behaviour (AISB), as well as from AVANT, the journal of the philosophical-interdisciplinary vanguard.

The objective of the conference is to gather as many researchers as possible, from all disciplines, with an interest in the development and the future of enactive cognitive science.

If you intend to participate (even if you do not plan to submit a poster or a talk), we kindly ask that you send us an email, as we need to make some arrangements with the venue. Please do so by visiting our website http://www.reading.ac.uk/cinn/enactivism/?mid=552

Keynote speakers:

  • Mark Bickhard (Lehigh Univ., USA)
  • Fred Cummins (Univ. College Dublin, Ireland)
  • Tom Fröse (Univ. Tokyo, Japan)
  • Thomas Fuchs (Heidelberg Univ.)

Call for posters and talks

Posters will be on display throughout the whole conference, and submitted talks will complement invited keynote addresses. If needed, attendance certificates will be provided. If you are willing to participate, please send a title and an abstract (max. 300 words) to Dr. Etienne Roesch (http://www.reading.ac.uk/cinn/enactivism/?mid=552) by January 30th (of course you can send it before that date!), stating whether you would like to present a poster or give a talk, and if you will be staying at the Lodge or make your own arrangements.

  • Dr. Etienne Roesch (Goldsmiths Univ. London; Univ. of Reading)
  • Dr. Slawomir Nasuto (Univ. of Reading)
  • Prof. John Mark Bishop (Goldsmiths Univ. London)

Philosophy and Computation, International Workshop

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

May 12-13th, 2012
Department of Philosophy and Cognitive Sciences, Lund University, Sweden

http://www.fil.lu.se/conferences/conference.asp?id=51&lang=se

The workshop “Philosophy and Computation” aims to be a platform for various discussions concerning the use of computability in philosophy (for example, how computational complexity constraints can contribute to explain human understanding) and also questions concerning the philosophical investigation of computation (like questions related to Church-Turing thesis).

The workshop is inspired by the celebration of Turing’s Centenary. More information about the celebrations can be found at the following website: http://www.turingcentenary.eu/

The main objective of the workshop is to gather international specialists, philosophers, cognitive scientists and computer scientists, who will be given an opportunity to present their research and time to discuss important topics related to philosophy and computation. In addition, there are four slots for contributed papers. People who would like to participate in the workshop are invited to send us an abstract of a proposed talk (details below). The selected contributors will have their travel and accommodation costs covered by the organizers.

Themes for contributed papers include (but are not limited to):

  • Church-Turing thesis
  • Philosophical insight into the concept of algorithm
  • Computational complexity used in philosophy
  • Computational constraints on human understanding
  • Problems of notations or encodings used in computing
  • Nature of physical computation
  • Computational theories of mind

Keynote speakers:

Organiser: Paula Quinon (Lund)

Please send an extended abstract (1000 to 1500 words) prepared for blind review on or before February 17th, 2012 to paula.quinon@fil.lu.se. Expect decisions within three weeks.

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