COGS 311 - Seminar in Cognitive Science: Points of View

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 team-taught by faculty members in the program. May be repeated for credit if the topic has changed.

Topic for 2014/15b: Points of View. In this seminar, we explore the various points of view or stances that are taken by agents navigating the world and by researchers who study them. These stances include the third person, or ‘objective,’ perspective often taken by investigators;, the first person perspective, which describes subjective experience; and the second-person, or I-thou perspective, which refers to the perspectives of two agents interacting. We explore research methodologies that focus on each of these stances and ask what each has to offer to an exploration of mind and agency. The seminar considers whether it is necessary to take the first person perspective into account in a field that studies mind and, if it is, what that means for third person research, reductionist models of mind, the use of animal models of mind, artificial intelligence, and the role of functionalism in cognitive science. Ms. Broude and Mr. Cleaveland.

Prerequisites: special permission of the instructor, and COGS 100 and one relevant 200-level course such as COGS 215 .

One 3-hour period.