COGS 311 - Seminar in Cognitive Science

Semester Offered: Spring
1 unit(s)

The topic of the seminar varies regularly, but is always focused on some aspect of thought, language, perception, or action considered from the unique, synthetic perspective of cognitive science. The seminar is taught by faculty members in the program. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed. For the spring of 2017 there will be two sections of the seminar on two different topics, as noted below.

Topic for 2016/17b: Language, Embodiment, and Abstraction. This seminar explores the idea, stated explicitly in a recent cognitive science article, that “Language speaks in categories while perception speaks in particulars.” What is the basis for this claim and, if true, what are its implications? To explore this, we address the mounting evidence that language is embodied, relying fundamentally on more concrete sensorimotor abilities, and yet able to exert genuine top-down influence on perception and action. Is language uniquely able to support abstract, categorical thought, and if so, how? How can language be both embodied/contextual and symbolic/compositional? Janet Andrews.

Topic for 2016/17b: Morality. What is it? This seminar explores the nature of moral systems, moral thought, moral sentiments, moral behavior, proposed origins of morality, and the very nature of morality itself. We will be asking: What are we referring to when we carve out a special domain identified as moral? Are moral judgments different from other judgments that human beings regularly make and if so, how and why? Where does the idea of morality come from? Are there analogues of morality in other animals? Can we interpret the moral sentiments as an evolved adaptation? Is there anything about moral impulses that exists even without moral teaching? What are the roles of cognition and of emotion in moral thought and behavior? Are there universals in human moral systems? What kinds of differences in moral systems might we find across cultures and people, and why might they exist? How do cultures try to instill morality in their young? Is there a correct morality? And - why be moral? The readings and framework for the course are wide-ranging, and include: evolutionary theory, anthropology, neuroscience, developmental psychology, empirical psychological studies, and moral philosophy. Gwen Broude.

One 3-hour period.