manwithoutqualities | Monthly Archive

Archive | December, 2009

Habermas and the Internet

Here’s an interesting article entitled “Does Habermas Understand the Internet? The Algorithmic Construction of the Blogo/Public Sphere“

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December 23, 2009 Comments Off Short URL Delicious, DEMOCRACY, Digg, epistemology, google, Habermas, networks, philosophy of social science, political philosophy, politics, social connectionism, social epistemology, stigmergy, swarm, swarm behavior, swarm intelligence, Technorati

The Social Epistemology of Experimental Economics

A new book by Ana Cordeiro dos Santos has come to my attention. Aside from the title which caught my eye – The Social Epistemology of Experimental Economics – what recommends checking the book out is that Ana’s pedigree is notable – her PhD was supervised by Uskali Mäki and Jack Vromen, both top-draw minds – the former kindly contributing to an early issue of EPISTEME. Economics is a growth area from the perspective of social epistemology – and rightly so.

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December 21, 2009 Comments Off Short URL Ana Cordeiro dos Santos, cognitive closure, cognitive modeling, cognitive science, cognitive systems, complexity, computational intelligence, computer simulations, distributed cognition, distributed knowledge, Economics, episteme, epistemology, Experimental Economics, Jack Vromen, philosophy, philosophy of economics, philosophy of science, philosophy of social science, situated cognition, social cognition, social connectionism, social constructivism, social epistemology, social ontology, Uskali Mäki

Pat Churchland on Mind and Brain

Pat Churchland interviewed by Anthony Grayling for the BBC World Service. Churchland will be speaking in the Fall of 2010 at the NEI.

Pat Churchland

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December 18, 2009 Comments Off Short URL anthony grayling, brain, brain science, Eliminative Materialism, folk psychology, mind body, neurobiology, neurophilosophy, Neurophysics, neuroscience, new england institute, patricia churchland, philosophy of mind, philosophy on the radio, psychology, qualia

Alvin Goldman Symposium

Look out for what might be best considered the results from a symposium on Alvin Goldman in his distinctive guise as epistemologist – distinctive in the sense that he’s been at the heart of “analytical” epistemology for the past 40+ years and has recently lead the charge to make social epistemology acceptable to analytical epistemologists. If that’s not achievement enough then add into the mix his interest in philosophy of mind/cognitive science. Last, but by no means least, he’s the esteemed editor of EPISTEME. So check out:

Reliable Knowledge and Social Epistemology. Essays on the Philosophy of Alvin Goldman and Replies by Goldman.

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December 14, 2009 Comments Off Short URL alvin goldman, episteme, epistemology, mind reading, mirror neurons, relativism, Reliabilism, social cognition, social connectionism, social constructivism, social epistemology

Michael Joseph Oakeshott

December 11, 1901 – December 19, 1990

Dorset

First page of Experience and its Modes

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December 11, 2009 Comments Off Short URL experience and its modes, oakeshott

Hayek in Mind

Here is an interview with the editors of Advances in Austrian Economics.

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December 10, 2009 Comments Off Short URL advances in austrian econmics, behaviorism, brain, brain science, cognitive closure, cognitive modeling, cognitive science, complexity, computational intelligence, concept of mind, connectionism, consciousness, distributed cognition, distributed knowledge, dualism, enactivism, evolutionary psychology, extended cognitive systems, extended mind, frame problem, frank rosenblatt, gerald edelman, hayek, joaquin fuster, John Searle, knowing how knowing that, psychology, qualia, roger penrose, steve horwitz, stigmergic, stigmergy, the "hard" problem, the sensory order

Closer to Truth: Consciousness

I’m pleased to have discovered a superb website that accompanies the PBS series Closer to Truth.

The definitive series on the latest advances in brain, mind, free will, personal identity, alien intelligence, parapsychology, afterlife, and brain-mind critical thinking.

Interviewer Robert Lawrence Kuhn does a super job of guiding the discussion for a lay audience and pretty much picks up where Brian Magee left off some 20 years ago in a series of programes for the BBC (and, I think, Channel 4). The interest here is on the selection of programs devoted to consciousness:

Why is Consciousness so Mysterious?

Why is Consciousness Baffling?

Is Consciousness an Illusion?

What’s the Essence of Consciousness?

What’s the Meaning of Consciousness?

Is Consciousness Fundamental?

Is Consciousness Irreducible?

Is Consciousness an Ultimate Fact?

What is the Mind-Body Problem?

Why a Mind-Body Problem?

Solutions to the Mind-Body Problem?

What are Brains?

How are Brains Structured?

What do Brains Do?

How do Brains Function?

How do Human Brains Work?

How Do Human Brains Think and Feel?

Can Brain Explain Mind?

How are Brains Conscious?

What Makes Brains Conscious?

How Brain Scientists Think about Consciousness

Among the luminaries interviewed include David Chalmers, Daniel Dennett, Hubert Dreyfus, Kristof Koch, Colin McGinn, Alva Noë, Roger Penrose, and John Searle and others besides. Here is the link to the video archive.

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December 10, 2009 Comments Off Short URL cognitive science, consciousness, philosophy of mind, extended mind, Dennett, embodiment, Chalmers, neurophilosophy, connectionism, Descartes, psychology, Colin McGinn, neuroscience, Daniel Dennett, neurobiology, the "hard" problem, qualia, phenomenology, cognitive closure, roger penrose, cognition, complexity, artificial intelligence, computational intelligence, distributed cognition, mirror neurons, david chalmers, Alva Noë, cognitive systems, Neurophysics, brain science, brain, concept of mind, Embedded, evolutionary psychology, intentionality, enactivism, externalism, extended cognitive systems, neuron, brian magee, hubert dreyfus, Kristof Koch, John Searle, Robert Lawrence Kuh

The Extended Mind Revisited

Here’s a rare treat to hear David Chalmers on the extended mind – typically, it’s been his co-author Andy Clark who has been exploring this idea in great detail. Here is their original paper; stay tuned for Rob Rupert’s review of Andy’s Supersizing the Mind to appear in the Journal of Mind and Behavior (as Chalmers says in his talk, he wrote the Forward to “Supersizing”).

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December 8, 2009 Comments Off Short URL Andy Clark, Bounds of Cognition, brain, brain damage, brain science, cognitive closure, cognitive science, cognitive systems, Cognitive Systems and the Extended Mind, consciousness, david chalmers, distributed cognition, extended cognitive systems, extended mind, externalism, journal of mind and behavior, metaphysics, mind body, neurobiology, neurophilosophy, neuroscience, personal identity, philosophy of mind, robert rupert, situated cognition, Supersizing the Mind, the "hard" problem

Rethinking A.I.

Press release from MIT.

Essentially, we want to rewind to 30 years ago and revisit some ideas that had gotten frozen,” he says, adding that the new group hopes to correct “fundamental mistakes” made in AI research over the years.

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December 7, 2009 Comments Off Short URL artificial intelligence, cognition, cognitive modeling, cognitive science, cognitive systems, computational intelligence, concept of mind, consciousness, Daniel Dennett, David Dalrymple, Ed Boyden, Herbert Simon, MIT, Neil Gershenfeld, Newton Howard, Peter Schmidt-Nielsen, steven pinker, Turing, turing test