Classical explanations of social cognition assume that complex social interaction involves social understanding and that social understanding in turn depends on the ability to read others’ minds, i.e. on the ability to attribute mental states, such as beliefs and desires, to others for the purposes of predicting and explaining their …
A donor has given $7.7 million to the University of Michigan to fund an institute in cognitive science. Here’s another excellent reply to Neil deGraase Tyson’s remarks on philosophy, this time from Massimo Pigliucci. (h/t Daily Nous) Should we move beyond blame? Barbara H. Fried and other philosophers discuss. (h/t Kyle Fritz on …
Below are some links that I thought would be of interest to readers of the Brains blog. I intend to start publishing posts like this with some frequency, but am not a great surfer of the Internet, so feel free to share links in the comments, or pass them along …
Workshop Costs and Benefits of Imperfect Cognitions Birmingham (UK), 8-9 May 2014 8th May 10:30-11:30 – Ryan McKay (Royal Holloway) and Maarten Boudry (University of Ghent): “In Defence of False Beliefs?” 11:40-12:40 – Lisa Bortolotti (University of Birmingham): “Epistemic Costs and Benefits of Delusional Beliefs”. 14:00-15:00 – Katerina Fotopoulou (University …
The problem of personal identity is one of the most bewitching puzzles in all of philosophy. Until very recently, most philosophers subscribed to the view first advocated by the 17th-century British philosopher, John Locke. Locke held that our fundamental nature is given by our status as self-conscious, rational agents (“persons”) …
Conference Announcement and Call for Abstracts Toward a Science of Consciousness 2014 April 21-26, 2014, Tucson, Arizona The 20th Anniversary Conference Speakers will include: Ned Block, David Chalmers, Karl Deisseroth, Daniel Dennett, David Eagleman, Rebecca Goldstein, Stuart Hameroff, Christof Koch, Henry Markram, John Searle, Petra Stoerig, Giulio Tononi and many more. …
The Society for Philosophy and Psychology will be holding its annual meeting June 12-15 at Brown University, Providence, R.I. Early registration has been extended to June 2. Please see the society’s website, www.socphilpsych.org, for the program and other details. Speakers include Daniel Dennett, Susan Fiske, Sandra Upson (managing editor, Scientific …
