17-18 Sep 2009
Bremen, Germany
Reductionism, Explanation and Metaphors in the Philosophy of Mind Workshop: 17-18 September 2009 (Workshop following the GAP-conference in Bremen, Germany) Start: 17th Sept. 2009:; 3 p.m. End: 18th Sept. 2009, 6.30 p.m . To register please send an email to: Raphael vanRiel <Raphael.vanRiel@ruhr-uni-bochum.de> More details under: http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/philosophy/staff/newen/gap_workshops_2009/ind ex.html Workshop Announcement: The widely accepted naturalistic paradigm imposes certain constraints on explanations and models in the Philosophy of Mind an d in Neurosciences. The aim of this workshop is to discuss these constraints fro m different perspectives, focusing on different types of explanations that ca n be found in Neuroscience and n the Philosophy of Mind. In this context, metaphorical ways of talking in the Philosophy of Mind are particularly interesting: For example, Singer talks about a "dialogue between brains", F odor postulated a "language of thought", Goldman explains social cognition in te rms of "simulation", and computer metaphors are still dominating some areas in the philosophy of mind. These terms have in common that they express, if taken literally, concepts that apply to artifacts. But obviously, reduction canno t be successful if neuronal systems turned out to be artifacts. Other metaphoric al constructions are quite common place, like "being in the mind", "explanator y gap", and "reflective consciousness". This gives rise to several closely connected questions: Which role do these metaphors play in reductive explanations? Are they innocent or problematic? How do they relate to diffe rent types of explanations, like functional explanations, explanations in terms of models or mechanistic explanations? Which role do metaphors play in explanations in general? Which type of explanation is the most promising if we attempt to reduce mental talk? And what exactly are the criteria imposed by the reductionist paradigm? Keynote Speakers: Andreas Bartels (Bonn) Michael Esfeld (Lausanne) Robert van Gulick (Syracuse) Stephan Hartmann (Tilburg) Albert Newen (Bochum) David Papineau (London) Raphael van Riel (Bochum) Louise Rska-Hardy (Witten) Christian Sachse (Lausanne) Scientific organization: Prof. Dr. Albert Newen and Raphael van Riel, Ruhr-Universitt Bochum To register please send an email to: Raphael vanR iel <Raphael.vanRiel@ruhr-uni-bochum.de> Organzition: Prof. Dr. Albert Newen and Raphael van Riel Ruhr-Universitt Bochum Institut fr Philosophie; GA3/152 Universittsstrae 150 D-44780 Bochum Tel.: +49-234- 32-22139 Fax: +49-234- 32-14963