22.1081, Confs: Cog Sci, Ling Theories, Philosophy of Lang, Syntax/India

Sat Mar 5 00:49:00 UTC 2011

LINGUIST List: Vol-22-1081. Fri Mar 04 2011. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 22.1081, Confs: Cog Sci, Ling Theories, Philosophy of Lang, Syntax/India

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1)
Date: 28-Feb-2011
From: Nirmalangshu Mukherji [somanshu at bol.net.in]
Subject: Character of Mind

-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:42:01
From: Nirmalangshu Mukherji [somanshu at bol.net.in]
Subject: Character of Mind

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Character of Mind 

Date: 18-Mar-2011 - 20-Mar-2011 
Location: Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India 
Contact: Nirmalangshu Mukherji 
Contact Email: somanshu at bol.net.in 
Meeting URL: http://www.iias.org/Character_Mind.html 

Linguistic Field(s): Cognitive Science; Linguistic Theories; Philosophy of 
Language; Syntax 

Subject Language(s): English (eng)

Meeting Description: 

Only 50 years ago, the study of the mind was christened a 'science'€™: 
'cognitive science'€™. What has it revealed, and does a specific concept of  
mind, new or old, emerge from it? Have we truly accessed the domain of the  
mental, or are we forever targeting only its outer manifestations, that is,  
complex human behaviour in socio-cultural contexts? Do we know which 
kind of data would be relevant to an actual theory of mind?

We aim to bring together philosophers and scientists to review what has 
been achieved, with a view to linking the development of cognitive science 
in the 20th century with the earliest efforts that humans have made to 
understand their mental life.  In effect, we wish to explore the agenda for a 
'new'€™ philosophy of mind in light of what has been learnt from cognitive 
science.

Some Sub-themes

To achieve some focus on this vast territory, for now we restrict attention 
to developments in language theory and the notion of mind that seems to 
underlie there. We can then ask how much of the classical concerns in the 
domain of the mental in fact coherently fits the grammatical conception of 
mind. This issue has at least four major parts.

First, are we in a position to formulate the grammatical conception of mind, 
say as a specific computational/generative system? How do the current 
paradigms in (analytical) philosophy of mind, such as functionalism, fare 
with respect to this conception? We would also want to know how this 
conception relates to those underlying classical conceptions of 
language/grammar in the Paninian, Aristotelian and Cartesian traditions.

Second, which other cognitive systemsâ€'classically falling under the domain 
of the mentalâ€'are likely to be covered by the conception of mind emanating 
from the study of language? Since studies on language and vision are the 
more advanced areas in cognitive science, we might ask: does the 
preceding conception of mind extend to the visual system, and to the 
domain of perceptual systems in general? Does it extend to the so-called 
languagelike systems of music, arithmetic, and logic?

Third,  with a restricted conception of mind in hand, we would want to know 
if we can make sense of nonlinguistic thoughts (or thoughts without 
language) as falling in the domain of the mental. Supposing there to be a 
case for nonlinguistic thoughts-especially for nonhuman animals-which 
conception of mind is required to capture that domain, if at all? (€˜if at 
all€™ because we might not want to view animal '€˜thoughts'€™ as requiring a 
concept of mind at all)

Fourth, how does the grammatical notion of mind address the issue of 
'€˜Thinking Matter'-€'the presence of thought in a physical world? For example, 
does the conception of mind in hand cover the phenomenon of 
consciousness which is supposed to be a paradigmatic aspect of the mental 
since Descartes? In other words, is consciousnessâ€'certainly shared with 
nonhuman animals-mental phenomenon at all from the perspective of the 
grammatical mind?

We emphasise two related aspects of this project: (a) it is foundational in 
character, (b) it is to be pursued basically as a review of contemporary 
philosophical and (cognitive) scientific literature from the perspective as 
described. In that sense, the conference is less concerned with cutting edge 
results in language theory, vision, music, and the like, and more with how 
the existing body of results cohere around a concept of mind.

Nirmalangshu Mukherji, somanshu at bol.net.in, University of Delhi
Wolfram Hinzen, wolfram.hinzen at dur.ac.uk, Durham University
Bijoy Boruah, boruah at iitk.ac.in, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi 

Indian Institute of Advanced Studies
Rashtrapati Niwas, Shimla, H.P., India

International Conference
(In collaboration with Indian Council of Philosophical Research)

The Character of Mind
March 18-20, 2011
Programme

March 18

Inauguration : 9.30 - 10.00

Bijoy Boruah 
Nirmalangshu Mukherji 
Peter Desouza

Session I : 10.00 - 13.00  Classical Indian Reflections
(Tea Break 15 minutes)

Chair: Susan Carey
Speakers: Amita Chatterjee (Navya-Ny?ya variation)
Tea Break
Probal Dasgupta (Bhartrihari's strategy)
Godavarish Mishra (Mind and its Universe)

Lunch : 13.00  -  14.00

Session II : 14.00 - 17.00 Grammar and Mind
(Tea Break 15 minutes) 
Chair: Ned Block
Speakers: Guiseppe Longobardi (Human diversity and theory of mind)
Anna Maria Di Sciullo (Mind as inhabitant of natural world)
Tea Break
Wolfram Hinzen (Evolution of recursion and complex thought)

March 19
Session III : 10.00 - 13.00 Beyond Language
(Tea Break 15 minutes)
Chair: Anna Maria Di Sciullo
Speakers: John Mikhail (Moral grammar)
Mohan Mathen (Logical structure of visual content)
Tea Break
Nirmalangshu Mukherji (How far does computational theory go)

Lunch : 13.00 - 14.00

Session IV : 14.00 - 17.00 Philosophy of Mind
(Tea Break 15 minutes)
Chair: Tim Crow
Speakers: Ned Block (Why consciousness research is difficult)
Bijoy Boruah (Self-awareness)
Tea Break
Barry Smith (Human subjects - the normal case?)

March 20
Session V : 10.00 - 13.00 	Science of Mind
(Tea Break 15 minutes)
Chair: Amita Chatterjee
Speakers:  Susan Carey (Origin of Concepts)
Tea Break
Tim Crow (Speciation Event)
Lunch : 13.00 - 14.00
Closing Session : 14.00 - 16.00 
(Tea Break 15 minutes)
Chair: Peter Desouza
Speaker: Partha Ghose (Tagore and Einstein plumb the truth)
Tea Break
Concluding Remarks: Wolfram Hinzen
Vote of Thanks

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