Kurzfassung

Over the last two decades, cognitive sciences, as well as human sciences in general, have witnessed a considerable paradigm shift with regard to their outlook on the nature of mind, cognition, perception and action. The traditional computation-based cognitivist outlook on the nature of cognition and functioning of the central nervous system has been gradually surpassed by ‘pragmatically-oriented’ approaches to the study of cognition and action.

In their search for philosophical justification...Over the last two decades, cognitive sciences, as well as human sciences in general, have witnessed a considerable paradigm shift with regard to their outlook on the nature of mind, cognition, perception and action. The traditional computation-based cognitivist outlook on the nature of cognition and functioning of the central nervous system has been gradually surpassed by ‘pragmatically-oriented’ approaches to the study of cognition and action.

In their search for philosophical justification of such a paradigm shift, cognitive scientists of the new wave as well as certain philosophers of mind have turned their attention to existential phenomenology and also to classical American pragmatism (Peirce, James, Dewey, Mead). Although there are considerable differences in how Peirce, James, Dewey, and Mead understood the mind, their common ground seems to lie in the belief that mind and consciousness are to be explained in terms of action. For the pragmatists, mind and cognition are ‘servants’ of action, not the other way around.

The conference titled “Pragmatism and Embodied Cognitive Science” aims to scrutinize the outcomes of the interaction between different facets of the mind-research and the philosophy of pragmatism. More precisely, we will discuss the contributions made by the pragmatists to new understanding of phenomena like emotions, perception, action, cognition, etc. We will also address the prospects, challenges and limitations which pragmatically-oriented research in cognitive sciences might face in the future.» weiterlesen» einklappen