Logic List Mailing Archive
Petrus Hispanus Lectures on "The Origin of Concepts", Lisbon (Portugal), 27 & 29 May 2014
LanCog - Language, Mind and Cognition Research Group
(http://www.lancog.com)
*Petrus Hispanus Lectures 2014 *
*Susan Carey (Harvard University) *
Lecture I. The Origin of Concepts: Natural Number
27 May 2014, 11:00
Faculty of Letters, University of Lisbon
Abstract: Alone among animals, humans can ponder the causes and cures of
pancreatic cancer or global warming. How are we to account for the human
capacity to create concepts such as electron, cancer, infinity, galaxy,
and democracy? A theory of conceptual development must have three
components. First, it must characterize the innate representational
repertoire--that is, the representations that subsequent learning
processes utilize. Second, it must describe how the initial stock of
representations differs from the adult conceptual system. Third, it must
characterize the learning mechanisms that achieve the transformation of
the initial into the final state. I defend three theses. With respect to
the initial state, contrary to historically important thinkers such as the
British empiricists, Quine, and Piaget, as well as many contemporary
scientists, the innate stock of primitives is not limited to sensory,
perceptual or sensory-motor representations; rather, there are also innate
conceptual representations. With respect to developmental change, contrary
to "continuity theorists" such as Fodor, Pinker, Macnamara and others,
conceptual development involves qualitative change, resulting in systems
of representation that are more powerful than and sometimes
incommensurable with those from which they are built. With respect to a
learning mechanism that achieves conceptual discontinuity, I offer Quinian
bootstrapping. I take on two of Fodor's challenges to cognitive science:
1) I show how (and in what ways) learning can lead to increases in
expressive power and 2) I show how to defeat mad dog concept nativism. I
challenge Fodor's claims that all learning is hypothesis testing, and that
the only way new concepts can be constructed is by assembling them from
developmental primitives, using the combinatorial machinery of the syntax
of the language of thought. These points are illustrated through a case
study of the origin of representations of natural number.
Lecture II. The Origin of Concepts: Logical connectives and abstract
relations
29 May 2014, 15:00
Faculty of Psychology, University of Lisbon
Abstract: In lecture I I argue for innate domain specific systems of
representations, systems of core cognition, illustrating with two such
systems with numerical content. Systems of core cognition are perception
like in many ways: the format of representation is most likely iconic, and
entity identification is supported by innate perceptual analyzers. The
existence of systems of core cognition, so specified, does not preclude
the existence of innate representations with different properties. Here I
consider what form innate support for logic might take. Logical
connectives (or, not...) and symbols for abstract relations (e.g., same)
are not likely to be iconic in format nor perception like in any way. At
issue is whether non-linguistic animals, and/or prelinguistic human
infants, have a logic-like, language-like, Language of Thought, capable of
propositional representations formulated over discrete arbitrary symbols.
I will present the progress we have made on addressing this question
around two case studies: reasoning according to the disjunctive syllogism
(A or B, not A, therefore B) and representations of the abstract relations
same and different.
Free Admission
The *Petrus Hispanus Lectures* are delivered every other academic year at
the University of Lisbon by a leading figure in current research about the
nature of mind, cognition and language. Previous Petrus Hispanus
Lecturers: Hilary Putnam, Daniel Dennett, Richard Jeffrey, Ned Block, David
Kaplan, Tyler Burge, Timothy Williamson.
Sponsors: Faculdade de Psicologia da UL, Faculdade de Letras da UL,
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia
--
LanCog Research Group
www.lancog.com
Centro de Filosofia
Faculdade de Letras da Universidade de Lisboa
Alameda da Universidade
Lisboa
1600-214
Portugal