Seminar The Philosophy of Cognitive Science

Cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence, embracing psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology. The philosophy of cognitive science is the systemic analysis of the conceptual frameworks and methodologies utilised by cognitive scientists, as well as the critical examination of the models of cognition developed and expounded in the course of research in cognitive science. Some questions of particular importance to the philosophy of cognitive science are: What is the relation among the various fields of cognitive science such as psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience? Are psychological phenomena subject to reductionist explanations via neuroscience? Are levels of explanation best characterized in terms of ontological levels (molecular, neural, psychological, social) or methodological ones (computational, algorithmic, physical)? What is the nature of (computational) representation? What role do computational models play in the development of cognitive theories? Does cognitive science adequately account for the impact that emotions, consciousness, embodiment, and sociocultural environment have on cognition? And:What is the relation among apparently competing accounts of mind and intelligence involving symbolic processing, neural networks, and dynamical systems? Engagement with these broad questions will underpin the overarching aim of this course: To familiarise students with contemporary philosophical debates about the nature and results of cognitive science. To achieve this aim, students will closely read a collection of texts from the philosophy of cognitive science literature broadly construed. The first part of the course will provide an introduction to the philosophical discussion about the themes, topics, and concepts central to research in cognitive science. The second part of the course will consider various problems for the methodology and results of cognitive science from a philosophical perspective. And the third part of the course will consider current developments within cognitive science, including, for example, advancements in embodied cognition and statistical cognition. Primary text: K. Frankish & W. Ramsey (Eds). 2012. The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Science. (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press).   Bemerkung Voraussetzungen Leistungsnachweis Beteiligungsnachweis: Hausaufgaben (3x1-2 page essays due in weeks 4, 9, and 13) Abschlussprüfung: Seminararbeit Philosophie (Master, PO 2013) Leistungsnachweis Beteiligungsnachweis: Hausaufgaben (3x1-2 page essays due in weeks 4, 9, and 13) Abschlussprüfung: Seminararbeit Beteiligungsnachweis: Hausaufgaben (3x1-2 page essays due in weeks 4, 9, and 13) Abschlussprüfung: Seminararbeit Universität Düsseldorf WiSe 2016/17 Taylor Samuel