From chicoisne.guillaume at uqam.ca Mon Dec 6 21:50:50 2010 From: chicoisne.guillaume at uqam.ca (Guillaume Chicoisne) Date: Mon, 06 Dec 2010 16:50:50 -0500 Subject: [CSSS] =?iso-8859-1?q?=2E=3A=3A_Cognitio_2011_=40_UQAM_-_Call_for?= =?iso-8859-1?q?_papers_/_Appel_=E0_communications?= Message-ID: Cognitio 2011 - Nonhuman Minds: Animal, Artificial or Other Minds Montreal, Canada July 3th, 4th & 5th 2011. http://cognitio.uqam.ca/2011 cognitio at uqam.ca Deadline for submission: Sunday, February 20th [version fran?aise ci-apr?s] Cognitio is a young researcher?s conference now held every two years at the Universit? du Qu?bec ? Montr?al, under the auspices of its Cognitive Science Institute. This year, Cognitio will be held from June 3rd to June 5th, just prior to the joint meeting of the Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SPP) and the European Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ESPP). http://www.socphilpsych.org/meetings.html Over the past several years, Cognitio has been a colloquium where many facets of the human mind were explored. We looked at the relationship between mind and its material substrate (2004), at human decision making (2005), at situated minds (2006), at social cognition (2007) and at the evolution of minds and cultures (2009). The time has come to turn our attention to ?nonhuman minds?: to reflect on other minds, on minds that could have been and on minds that could be. Do our primate cousins have minds? And what about other animals? Does it make sense to think of ?robot minds? and ?artificial minds? in general? Cognitio 2011 invites graduate students and young researchers in cognitive science, anthropology, biology, psychology, computer science, philosophy, or any discipline concerned with cognition outside of the human realm to present their work at the conference. Suggested topics include: * What are the actual cognitive properties of primates and other animals? * What of the mind of Aplysia californica? Does it have mind? And what of C. elegans? * What evolutionary principle governs the evolution of minds? And how is it relevant to understanding cognitive change across species? * What is the relation between the evolution of the mind and the evolution of the brain? * What is the relation between the evolution of the mind and the evolution of the body? * Does the advent of silicon chips, or someday perhaps quantum computing, foreshadows a new discontinuity in the evolution of minds? * Are there universal properties of minds? * Are there minimal conditions for possessing a mind? * Can we compare minds? How does a toddler?s mind and a chimp one compare with a grown up?s? * Does having a mind require rationality? * Can an organism have a mind without being part of a community? * Is a mind possible without language? How is its thinking done? * Is a disembodied mind possible? What are its peculiarities? Submission of proposals for the conference is done through the EasyChair system (see http://cognitio.uqam.ca/2011). We are only asking for 600 words abstracts. EasyChair will allow you to upload a PDF paper if you want to, but only your abstract will be evaluated. Deadline for submission is Sunday, February 20th Keynote speakers: * Don Ross - Department of Philosophy, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Faculty of Commerce, University of Cape Town -> http://www.uab.edu/philosophy/ross.html * Luc-Alain Giraldeau, Department of Biological Science, UQAM -> http://www.bio.uqam.ca/professeurs/giraldeau_la.html Theme: Knowing about the varieties of minds, both actual and possible (technologically or conceptually), may help us to better understand the design space of minds: what are its dimensions, what is its internal structure, and what design principle(s) govern the passage from one point in the space to another. Perhaps we will find that the human mind is an anomaly. Perhaps H. sapiens is the only mindful creature that has ever existed and will ever exist. Or perhaps, in the tradition of pedestal smashing (as Stephen Jay Gould called the successive epoch changing scientific discoveries that dethroned humans from their self-declared status as the ?center of creation?), we will find that human minds are but a tiny speck in a vast space of possible minds. Knowing about the varieties of minds can also help us understand how all actual minds (current and past), including our own, came to be. Assuming that minds result from the gradual evolution of brains and bodies, knowing about the minds of other animal species may help us understand how the variety of minds connects with the evolution of brains. If we discover general principles governing those mappings, we may the able to predict what minds extinct hominins or related primate species are likely to have (or have had). Finally, learning about robots and artificial minds might help us to prepare the future, to adapt our laws and institutions to new citizens in the community of the mindful. Or perhaps not: we may indeed decide that having a mind is not so special after all. Maybe it does not deserve special ethical treatment or institutional change, and maybe we should reserve our ethical concern for minds possessing some special features (consciousness is the obvious choice) or for some other features of beings (life, regardless of the possession of a mind). [french version] COGNITIO 2011 Esprits non-humains: cognition animale, artificielle ou autre Montr?al, Canada 3, 4 et 5 juillet 2011 http://cognitio.uqam.ca/2011 cognitio at uqam.ca Date limite de soumission: dimanche 20 f?vrier. Cognitio est un colloque pour jeunes chercheurs en sciences cognitives, tenu un an sur deux ? l?Universit? du Qu?bec ? Montr?al sous les auspices de l?Institut des Sciences Cognitives. Cette ann?e, Cognitio aura lieu du 3 au 5 juillet, juste avant la rencontre conjointe de la Society for Philosophy and Psychology (SPP) et de la European Society for Philosophy and Psychology (ESPP). http://www.socphilpsych.org/meetings.html Au cours des derni?res ann?es, plusieurs facettes de l?esprit humain ont ?t? explor?es ? Cognitio. Nous avons examin? la relation entre l?esprit et son substrat mat?riel (2004), la prise de d?cisions par des ?tres humains (2005), les esprits situ?s (2006), la cognition sociale (2007) et l??volution des esprits et des cultures (2009). Le temps est venu de tourner notre attention vers les ?esprits non humains?, ceci afin de r?fl?chir ? d?autres formes d?esprits, des esprits qui auraient pu ?tre, des esprits qui pourraient ?tre. Nos cousins primates ont-ils un esprit ? Qu?en est-il des autres animaux ? Cela fait-il sens de parler de l?esprit d?un robot ou d?esprits artificiels plus g?n?ralement ? Cognitio 2009 invite les ?tudiants des cycles sup?rieurs et les jeunes chercheurs en sciences cognitives, anthropologie, biologie, psychologie, informatique, philosophie ou tout autre discipline abordant la cognition ailleurs que chez l'humain. Des questions pertinentes dans ce domaine seraient:: * Quelles sont les propri?t?s actuelles des primates et des autres animaux? * Qu?en est-il de l?esprit de Aplysia californica ? A-t-elle un esprit? Qu?en est-il de C. elegans ? * Quels sont les principes ?volutifs qui gouvernent l??volution des esprits? En quoi cela est-il pertinent ? la compr?hension des changements cognitifs entre les esp?ces ? * Quelle est la relation entre l??volution de l?esprit et l??volution du cerveau ? * Quelle est la relation entre l??volution de l?esprit et l??volution du corps ? * Est-ce que les avanc?es technologiques, par exemple la computation quantique, annoncent une nouvelle discontinuit? dans l??volution des esprits? * Y a-t-il des propri?t?s universelles de l?esprit? Des propri?t?s n?cessaires? La rationalit?, la conscience? * Y a-t-il des conditions minimales pour l?attribution de la possession d?un esprit ? * Un organisme peut-il avoir un esprit sans faire partie d?une communaut? ? * L?esprit est-il possible sans langage ? Comment un tel esprit penserait-il ? * Un esprit sans corps est-il possible ? Quelles sont ses particularit?s ? La soumission de propositions de communication se fait ? l'aide du syst?me EasyChair (voir http://cognitio.uqam.ca/2011). Un r?sum? de 600 mots EN ANGLAIS doit ?tre joint ? la demande. EasyChair vous permet de joindre aussi un article en PDF si vous le d?sirez, mais seul votre r?sum? sera ?valu?. La date limite pour l'envoi de r?sum?s est le dimanche 20 f?vrier. Conf?renciers invit?s : * Don Ross - Department of Philosophy, University of Alabama at Birmingham; Faculty of Commerce, University of Cape Town -> http://www.uab.edu/philosophy/ross.html * Luc-Alain Giraldeau, D?partement des sciences biologiques, UQAM -> http://www.bio.uqam.ca/professeurs/giraldeau_la.html Th?matique : En s?attaquant ? la diversit? des esprits possibles (technologiquement ou conceptuellement), nous comprendrons mieux leur espace propre : quelles sont ses dimensions, sa structure interne, et quels sont le(s) principe(s) de passage d?un point de cet espace ? un autre. Peut-?tre trouverons-nous que l?esprit humain est une anomalie. Peut-?tre qu?H. sapiens est la seule cr?ature dot?e d?un esprit qui ait exist?, et qui existera. Ou peut-?tre encore que, dans la poursuite de la tradition de destruction de pi?destaux?ce que Stephen Jay Gould appelait les ?poques successives de d?couvertes scientifiques qui ont d?tr?n?es l??tre humain de son statut autoproclam? de ?centre de la cr?ation??nous d?couvrirons que l?esprit humain n?est qu?un infime ?l?ment dans l?immensit? de l?espace des esprits possibles. L?exploration des liens entre l?esprit des animaux (incluant l?humain), leur corps (incluant leur cerveau, leur syst?me nerveux, leurs moyens de communication, ...) et leurs communaut?s permet aussi une extrapolation historique: comment tous les esprits (pr?sents et pass?s, incluant le n?tre), en sont venus ? ?tre? Quel est l?impact de l??volution sur l?apparition de l?esprit? Quel esprit les esp?ces ?teintes d?hominid?s ?taient susceptibles d?avoir? Finalement, en apprendre davantage sur les robots et les esprits artificiels peut nous aider ? nous pr?parer pour le futur, ? adapter nos lois, nos institutions, nos cultures, notre ?thique, aux ?ventuels individus ou collectifs que l?on consid?rera alors comme dot?s d?un esprit. Ou peut-?tre que non: nous pourrions en effet d?cider qu?avoir un esprit n?est pas une chose si sp?ciale. Peut-?tre qu?avoir un esprit ne donne pas droit ? un traitement ?thique particulier ou ? des changements institutionnels, et peut-?tre que nos pr?occupations ?thiques devraient ?tre r?serv?es ? des esprits qui ont des propri?t?s en particulier (la conscience serait ici un choix ?vident) ou pour d?autres particularit?s de ces ?tres (la vie, peu importe qu?elle poss?de ou non un esprit). -- http://cognitio.uqam.ca/2011 cognitio at uqam.ca (apologies for cross-postings / nos excuses pour les envois multiples) -------------- section suivante -------------- Une pi?ce jointe HTML a ?t? nettoy?e... 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