Archive for September, 2012

Workshop Series ‘Self-Consciousness & Kinds of Self’

8 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)

How do we make decisions? Perspectives from philosophy and science

10 months ago
by Liz Irvine in

Tübingen International Summer School (TISS) 2012: How do we make decisions? Perspectives from philosophy and science

http://www.forum-scientiarum.uni-tuebingen.de/de/lehrangebot/akademien/sa-2012-decisions.html

September 24th to 27th, 2012, Cloister Heiligkreuztal http://www.kloster-heiligkreuztal.de

CAll FOR APPLICATION

The Tübingen International Summer School 2012 is a joint venture of the FORUM SCIENTIARUM and the Werner Reichardt Centre for Integrative Neuroscience (CIN). This year’s summer school will focus on different approaches to understanding decision-making. Decision-making is currently investigated across neurobiology, neuroscience, psychology and philosophy, but what is treated as a decision, and which methods and modeling techniques are used to investigate it, are often very different. Given an introduction to state of the art research in decision-making, our central question is if, and how, we can integrate research across these fields.

Areas include: neurobiology and Bayesian models of sensori-motor decision making, neuroscience and modeling of risky decision making processes, cortical network dynamics of decision making, ‘Fast and Frugal’ heuristics, machine learning models of decision making, social decision making and models of reasoning, philosophy and methodology of neuroeconomics.

Faculty:

•          Daniel Braun, MPI for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen

•          Roberto Fumigalli, Bayreuth University

•          Stephan Hartmann, Tilburg Center for Logic and Philosophy of Science

•          Kerstin Preuschoff, EPFL, Lausanne

•          Lael Schooler, MPI for Human Development, Berlin

•          Markus Siegel, CIN, Tübingen

•          Liz Irvine, CIN, Tübingen

•          Axel Lindner, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Tübingen

•          Kirsten Volz, CIN, Tübingen

•          Hong Yu Wong, CIN, Tübingen

Application

The summer school is aimed at advanced undergraduate students and graduate students working in neurobiology, neuroscience, psychology, philosophy, and other relevant disciplines.

Participants should submit a motivational letter, in English, outlining their interests in decision-making, how this relates to their current work, and what they hope to achieve from attending the summer school (500-1000 words).

An additional application form is downloadable from our website (www.forum-scientiarum.uni-tuebingen.de/summerschool) and has to be submitted with the essay. The final deadline is July 31st. Applications should be sent to info@fsci.uni-tuebingen.de.

CFP: AISB Workshop on Sensorimotor Theories of Perception

10 months ago
by David Silverman in , ,

Event: AISB Workshop on Sensorimotor Theories of Perception
Date: September 26 2012
City: London, UK
Location: Ben Pimlott Building, Goldsmiths, University of London, New Cross, London, UK

Introduction
This workshop aims to provide an insight into the contemporary state of sensorimotor theories and their place in modern cognitive science. Particular focus will be given to J.K. O’Regan and Noë’s 2001 paper “A sensorimotor account of vision and visual consciousness”, including how both authors’ work has since developed and diverged.

An overarching aim will be to describe how sensorimotor accounts relate to enactive accounts: whether they are synonymous, compatible, or even mutually exclusive.

We invite comparisons of the strengths and critiques of sensorimotor accounts as compared to more established, and more radical theories. We seek to clarify the scope of sensorimotor theories, the subjects over which they provide the greatest explanations

Example Topics of Interest

  • How an enactive approach compares to a sensorimotor approach.
  • The “hard” problems solved or introduced by assuming a sensorimotor stance.
  • How various Sensorimotor theories compare with each other and competing theories.
  • Whether a sensorimotor approach commits one to a certain philosophy of mind.
  • The most influential existing projects that assume a sensorimotor stance.
  • How sensory substitution experiments and sensorimotor theory may inform each others’ development.
  • How sensorimotor accounts may inform developments in artificial intelligence and cognitive science.
  • How to explain sensorimotor “mastery”, and the relation between “understanding”, “skill” and “knowledge”.
  • The role or need for perceptual “content” and internal representations.
  • The relation between perception and action; between “knowing how to act” and “knowing what would happen if you did act”.

Any other topics related to sensorimotor theory will also be welcomed.

Event
We intend to provide an early avenue for informal exposition of views on the historical and contemporary context of sensorimotor theories. We invite scholars and students to submit a 250-500 word abstract for oral presentation and subsequent round table discussion.

Registration
Registration is free to members of the AISB [aisb.org.uk] and otherwise equal to the cost of membership which will be processed as a membership application unless explicitly requested. AISB Membership costs are available at http://www.aisb.org.uk/about/join

Venue
Goldsmiths, University of London is located in the heart of London, under five minutes’ walk from New Cross and New Cross Gate train stations. These stations are both served by National Rail trains and the London Overground Network. Trains run from Charing Cross, Waterloo East, Cannon Street and London Bridge. Journey time is roughly 10-15 minutes.

Further travel information and directions can be found at:

http://www.gold.ac.uk/find-us/trainlondonovergroundtube/

Submission
Deadline for submissions is 12th September, 2012 (two weeks prior to the event). Email abstracts to Andrew Martin at ma901am@gold.ac.uk, they will be contemplated but not submitted to formal peer review. Accepted speakers will be notified by 19th September, 2012 (one week prior to the event).

16th annual meeting of the ASSC

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness

July 2-6 2012
University of Sussex

Call for Papers

Keynote Speakers

  • Victor Lamme, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Josef Perner, University of Salzburg
  • Geraint Rees, University College London
  • Tania Singer, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig
  • Tim Bayne, University of Oxford
  • Christof Koch, Caltech (special lecture)

Programme committee

  • Zoltan Dienes, University of Sussex
  • Anil Seth, University of Sussex
  • Frederique de Vignemont, Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris
  • Amanda Barnier, Macquarie University, Sydney
  • Sid Kouider, Ecole Normale Superiuere, Paris
  • David Edelman, The Neurosciences Institute, San Diego
  • Katalin Farkas, Central European University, Budapest
  • Joelle Proust, Institut Jean-Nicod, Paris
  • Olaf Blanke, EPFL, Lausanne
  • Olivia Carter, University of Melbourne

Local organisers

  • Local organisers (chairs): Anil Seth, Zoltan Dienes
  • Local organisers (committee): Hugo Critchley, Nick Medford, Ryan Scott, Jamie Ward, Hazelle Woodhurst, David Schwartzman

For more information: http://theassc.org/conferences/assc_16

Persons and Their Brains

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

Conference Registration and Call for Papers

11-14 July 2012
St Anne’s College, Oxford

Organised by the Ian Ramsey Centre, University of Oxford

Plenary Speakers

  • Simon Blackburn
  • A.C. Grayling
  • Peter Hacker
  • Iain McGilchrist
  • David Papineau
  • Sally Satel
  • Roger Scruton
  • Raymond Tallis

Background

It is now over 20 years since Churchland’s book Neurophilosophy was published, and in its wake whole disciplines have sprung into being, proudly sporting the prefix ‘neuro-’ by way of attaching themselves to Churchland’s banner. We have entered a new period in which philosophy, among a substantial community of its practitioners, might be seen as the handmaiden of neuroscience, whose role is to remove the obstacles that have been laid in the path of scientific advance by popular prejudice and superstitious ways of thinking. Brain imaging techniques, which enable us to allocate mental functions to precise cortical areas, and in some cases to establish the neural pathways through which information is processed and decisions formed, have cast doubt on the reality of human freedom, have revised the description of reason and its place in human nature, and caused many people to suspect the validity of the old distinctions of kind, which separated person from animal, animal from machine and the free agent from the conditioned organism. In addition, the more we learn about the brain and its functions, the more do people wonder whether our old ways of managing our lives and resolving our conflicts – the ways of moral judgment, legal process and the imparting of virtue – are the best ways, and whether there might be more direct forms of intervention that would take us more speedily, more reliably and perhaps more kindly to the right result.

These developments appear to sit uneasily with the traditional concept of the person, a central concern of philosophy since at least the early Middle Ages. From infancy each of us singles out persons from the rest of our environment as recipients of love, affection, anger and forgiveness. We face them eye-to-eye and I- to-Thou, believing each person to be a centre of self-conscious reflection who responds to reasons, who makes decisions, and whose life forms a continuous narrative in which individual identity is maintained from moment to moment and from year to year. Are we then justified in treating the traditional attributes of persons, such as self-identity, thought, free will and consciousness, simply as “folk psychological” concepts to be revised in a physically reductionistic manner, or can developments in neuroscience be interpreted within alternative philosophical frameworks? Furthermore, what are the broader implications for new first, second and third-personal understanding in moral judgment, in the law, in religion, politics and the arts?

The purpose of this conference is to discuss and debate these developments from a variety of perspectives, to examine the relevance of neuroscience both to philosophy and to the other humanities of the post-Enlightenment university, and to confront the intellectual issues that surround the emergence of what might reasonably be called a ‘neuroculture’.

Registration

All those wishing to attend the conference are invited to register via:

Oxford University online shop
http://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/browse/product.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=1256

The registration fee includes simple lunch, tea and coffee for each day.

Accommodation and Meals

There are two options:

(1) Book a room at St Anne’s College, Oxford, arriving Wed 11 July, departing Sunday 15 July in the morning. This option includes the cost of all the dinners during the conference.
http://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/browse/product.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=1254

(2) Purchase individual dinners only, without accommodation.
http://www.oxforduniversitystores.co.uk/browse/product.asp?compid=1&modid=1&catid=1255

Short Papers

Short papers are also invited on topics directly relevant to the conference themes, to be delivered in parallel sessions of 30 minutes duration (20 minutes for the paper, 10 minutes for discussion).

Those wishing to contribute a paper should submit a title, a 200 word abstract, and institutional affiliation, by email to the Ian Ramsey Centre administrator, Sarah Retz: irc.admin@theology.ox.ac.uk with the subject line “Persons and their Brains Abstract.”

Closing Date for Abstract submissions: Friday 3rd February, 2012.

Notification of accepted papers will take place by the end of February 2012.

Minding Animals Conference 2012

1 year ago
by Mark Sprevak in ,

4-6 July 2012
Utrecht University, The Netherlands

Call for abstracts open until January 15th 2012

Please visit http://www.uu.nl/hum/mindinganimals

This conference is the second in a series of conferences about scientific, ethical and social issues related to human interactions with and uses of animals.

The aim of the conference is to bring together academics from different areas (animal welfare, animal ethics, and animal studies in general) with politicians and a broad variety of interest groups.

The conference offers a platform for exchange of information about research developments, debates about controversial political and ethical issues concerning the treatment of animals and a variety of cultural activities around animals.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Prof. Colin Allen, Professor of Philosophy, specialized in Philosophy of Biology and Cognitive Science, in particular animal behaviour and cognition
  • Prof. Marc Bekoff, Emeritus Professor of Animal Behaviour, author of numerous books about animal capacities and the human-animal relationship
  • Prof. John Coetzee, Nobel Prize winning author
  • Prof. Julia Driver, Professor of Philosophy, exploring a Humean account of duties towards animals
  • Prof. Robert Garner, Professor of Political Theory, specialized in the political representation of non-human interests and animal rights
  • Prof. Dale Jamieson, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy
  • Prof. Christine Korsgaard, Professor of Philosophy, developped a novel Kantian account of our duties towards animals
  • Prof. Will Kymlicka, Professor of Political Philosophy, recently co-authored a book on political philosophy and animal rights
  • Prof. James McGaugh, Research Professor of Neurobiology and Behaviour, author of ‘Memory and Emotion: The Making of Lasting Memories’
  • Raj Panjwani, practicising lawyer of the Supreme Court of India, specialised in animal protection.
  • Prof. Harriet Ritvo, Professor of Philosophy, specialised in the history of human-animal relationships
  • Jill Robinson, animal protectionis and founder of Animals Asia
  • Prof. Paul Schnabel, Professor of Sociology and director of the Dutch Sociaal en Cultureel Planbureau
  • Prof. Peter Singer, Professor of Philosophy, developed a utilitarian approach to animal ethics
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