Author Archives: Ion Arrieta

IAS-Research Talk by Argyris Arnellos: “The body complexity thesis: multicellular hurdles for animal cognition”IAS-Research Talk by Argyris Arnellos: “The body complexity thesis: multicellular hurdles for animal cognition”IAS-Research Talk by Argyris Arnellos: “The body complexity thesis: multicellular hurdles for animal cognition”

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Date and Time: June 7, Tuesday, 12:00 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Argyris Arnellos

Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research, (KLI) Klosterneuburg, Austria
e-­‐mail: argyris.arnellos@kli.ac.at

Title: The body complexity thesis: multicellular hurdles for animal cognition

Abstract: Animal – and thus multicellular (MC) – agents and their relation to a macroscopic environment composed of various media available for locomotion and recognizable objects are taken by many to be central to cognition. However, as I will claim, neither animals as (freely moving) MC organizations nor the macroscopic environment in which they act can be taken as a self-evident starting-point for the evolution of cognition. I will argue that the evolution of animal cognition as is exemplified in MC organisms that appeared during the Cambrian explosion requires a set of pre-adaptations that emerge in a complex body capable for sensing and moving in a macroscopic environment. Specifically, I will discuss how an epithelial organization and its properties can be cast as the key enabling factor for the emergence and evolution of the animal sensorimotor interaction, and also how a focus on the epithelial organization integrates animal sensing and moving with the physiology and development of its MC body; all essential features of the organizational basis of MC agents (Arnellos & Moreno, 2015; 2016).

The talk is partially based on recent work:

  • Arnellos A, Moreno A (2015) Multicellular agency: an organizational view. Biology and Philosophy 30(3): 333-357. doi: 10.1007/s10539-015-9484-0 
  • Arnellos A, Moreno A (2016) Integrating constitution and interaction in the transition from unicellular to multicellular organisms. In: Niklas K, Newman S (eds) Multicellularity: origins and evolution. MIT Press, Cambridge MA, pp 249-275

IAS-Research Seminar by Michael Beaton (UPV-EHU & Sussex): “Sensorimotor Direct Realism: How We Enact Our World” IAS-Research Seminar by Michael Beaton (UPV-EHU & Sussex): “Sensorimotor Direct Realism: How We Enact Our World”IAS-Research Seminar by Michael Beaton (UPV-EHU & Sussex): “Sensorimotor Direct Realism: How We Enact Our World”

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Date and Time: June 13, Monday, 11:00 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Michael Beaton (UPV-EHU & Sussex)

Title: Sensorimotor Direct Realism: How We Enact Our World

Abstract: 

Direct realism is a non-reductive, anti-representationalist theory of perception which is currently generating a lot of interest within mainstream analytic philosophy. For all that, it is widely held to be both controversial and anti-scientific. The sensorimotor theory of perception, on the other hand, initially generated a lot of interest within mainstream cognitive science, but has not yet delivered on its early promise of changing fundamentally the way in which cognitive scientists think about perception. Here I will argue that sensorimotor theory and direct realism complement each other very well, and that the resultant theory – sensorimotor direct realism – is a scientifically tractable alternative to the dominant, mainstream, representationalist approach within cognitive science. I will argue for the apparently philosophically radical claim that we directly perceive objects themselves, showing how this claim can be understood in a way which makes it amenable to normal scientific study. Objects are analysed as a kind of collaboration between the world and the perceiver. On this account, whilst we never perceive outside the categories of our own understanding, we do, literally, perceive outside our own heads, with no intermediary representations required.

Presentation based on three pieces recently published in Constructivist Foundations.

Date and Time: June 13, Monday, 11:00 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Michael Beaton (UPV-EHU & Sussex)

Title: Sensorimotor Direct Realism: How We Enact Our World

Abstract: 

Direct realism is a non-reductive, anti-representationalist theory of perception which is currently generating a lot of interest within mainstream analytic philosophy. For all that, it is widely held to be both controversial and anti-scientific. The sensorimotor theory of perception, on the other hand, initially generated a lot of interest within mainstream cognitive science, but has not yet delivered on its early promise of changing fundamentally the way in which cognitive scientists think about perception. Here I will argue that sensorimotor theory and direct realism complement each other very well, and that the resultant theory – sensorimotor direct realism – is a scientifically tractable alternative to the dominant, mainstream, representationalist approach within cognitive science. I will argue for the apparently philosophically radical claim that we directly perceive objects themselves, showing how this claim can be understood in a way which makes it amenable to normal scientific study. Objects are analysed as a kind of collaboration between the world and the perceiver. On this account, whilst we never perceive outside the categories of our own understanding, we do, literally, perceive outside our own heads, with no intermediary representations required.

Presentation based on three pieces recently published in Constructivist Foundations.

Date and Time: June 13, Monday, 11:00 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Michael Beaton (UPV-EHU & Sussex)

Title: Sensorimotor Direct Realism: How We Enact Our World

Abstract: 

Direct realism is a non-reductive, anti-representationalist theory of perception which is currently generating a lot of interest within mainstream analytic philosophy. For all that, it is widely held to be both controversial and anti-scientific. The sensorimotor theory of perception, on the other hand, initially generated a lot of interest within mainstream cognitive science, but has not yet delivered on its early promise of changing fundamentally the way in which cognitive scientists think about perception. Here I will argue that sensorimotor theory and direct realism complement each other very well, and that the resultant theory – sensorimotor direct realism – is a scientifically tractable alternative to the dominant, mainstream, representationalist approach within cognitive science. I will argue for the apparently philosophically radical claim that we directly perceive objects themselves, showing how this claim can be understood in a way which makes it amenable to normal scientific study. Objects are analysed as a kind of collaboration between the world and the perceiver. On this account, whilst we never perceive outside the categories of our own understanding, we do, literally, perceive outside our own heads, with no intermediary representations required.

Presentation based on three pieces recently published in Constructivist Foundations.

IAS-Research Seminar by Laura Menatti and Antonio Casado da Rocha: “Landscape and Health: Connecting Psychology, Aesthetics, and Philosophy through the Concept of Affordance” IAS-Research Seminar by Laura Menatti and Antonio Casado da Rocha: “Landscape and Health: Connecting Psychology, Aesthetics, and Philosophy through the Concept of Affordance” IAS-Research Seminar by Laura Menatti and Antonio Casado da Rocha: “Landscape and Health: Connecting Psychology, Aesthetics, and Philosophy through the Concept of Affordance”

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Date and Time: June 13, Monday, 10:00 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speakers: Laura Menatti (Chile) and Antonio Casado da Rocha (UPV/EHU)

Title: Landscape and Health: Connecting Psychology, Aesthetics, and Philosophy through the Concept of Affordance

Abstract: 

In this paper we address a frontier topic in the humanities, namely how the cultural and natural construction that we call landscape affects well-being and health. Following an updated review of evidence-based literature in the fields of medicine, psychology, and architecture, we propose a new theoretical framework called “processual landscape,” which is able to explain both the health-landscape and the medical agency-structure binomial pairs. We provide a twofold analysis of landscape, from both the cultural and naturalist points of view: in order to take into account its relationship with health, the definition of landscape as a cultural product needs to be broadened through naturalization, grounding it in the scientific domain. Landscape cannot be distinguished from the ecological environment. For this reason, we naturalize the idea of landscape through the notion of affordance and Gibson’s ecological psychology. In doing so, we stress the role of agency in the theory of perception and the health-landscape relationship. Since it is the result of continuous and co-creational interaction between the cultural agent, the biological agent and the affordances offered to the landscape perceiver, the processual landscape is, in our opinion, the most comprehensive framework for explaining the health-landscape relationship. The consequences of our framework are not only theoretical, but ethical also: insofar as health is greatly affected by landscape, this construction represents something more than just part of our heritage or a place to be preserved for the aesthetic pleasure it provides. Rather, we can talk about the right to landscape as something intrinsically linked to the well-being of present and future generations.

Presentation based on paper recently published in Frontiers Psychology (see online).Date and Time: June 13, Monday, 10:00 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speakers: Laura Menatti (Chile) and Antonio Casado da Rocha (UPV/EHU)

Title: Landscape and Health: Connecting Psychology, Aesthetics, and Philosophy through the Concept of Affordance

Abstract: 

In this paper we address a frontier topic in the humanities, namely how the cultural and natural construction that we call landscape affects well-being and health. Following an updated review of evidence-based literature in the fields of medicine, psychology, and architecture, we propose a new theoretical framework called “processual landscape,” which is able to explain both the health-landscape and the medical agency-structure binomial pairs. We provide a twofold analysis of landscape, from both the cultural and naturalist points of view: in order to take into account its relationship with health, the definition of landscape as a cultural product needs to be broadened through naturalization, grounding it in the scientific domain. Landscape cannot be distinguished from the ecological environment. For this reason, we naturalize the idea of landscape through the notion of affordance and Gibson’s ecological psychology. In doing so, we stress the role of agency in the theory of perception and the health-landscape relationship. Since it is the result of continuous and co-creational interaction between the cultural agent, the biological agent and the affordances offered to the landscape perceiver, the processual landscape is, in our opinion, the most comprehensive framework for explaining the health-landscape relationship. The consequences of our framework are not only theoretical, but ethical also: insofar as health is greatly affected by landscape, this construction represents something more than just part of our heritage or a place to be preserved for the aesthetic pleasure it provides. Rather, we can talk about the right to landscape as something intrinsically linked to the well-being of present and future generations.

Presentation based on paper recently published in Frontiers Psychology (see online).Date and Time: June 13, Monday, 10:00 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speakers: Laura Menatti (Chile) and Antonio Casado da Rocha (UPV/EHU)

Title: Landscape and Health: Connecting Psychology, Aesthetics, and Philosophy through the Concept of Affordance

Abstract: 

In this paper we address a frontier topic in the humanities, namely how the cultural and natural construction that we call landscape affects well-being and health. Following an updated review of evidence-based literature in the fields of medicine, psychology, and architecture, we propose a new theoretical framework called “processual landscape,” which is able to explain both the health-landscape and the medical agency-structure binomial pairs. We provide a twofold analysis of landscape, from both the cultural and naturalist points of view: in order to take into account its relationship with health, the definition of landscape as a cultural product needs to be broadened through naturalization, grounding it in the scientific domain. Landscape cannot be distinguished from the ecological environment. For this reason, we naturalize the idea of landscape through the notion of affordance and Gibson’s ecological psychology. In doing so, we stress the role of agency in the theory of perception and the health-landscape relationship. Since it is the result of continuous and co-creational interaction between the cultural agent, the biological agent and the affordances offered to the landscape perceiver, the processual landscape is, in our opinion, the most comprehensive framework for explaining the health-landscape relationship. The consequences of our framework are not only theoretical, but ethical also: insofar as health is greatly affected by landscape, this construction represents something more than just part of our heritage or a place to be preserved for the aesthetic pleasure it provides. Rather, we can talk about the right to landscape as something intrinsically linked to the well-being of present and future generations.

Presentation based on paper recently published in Frontiers Psychology (see online).

IAS-Research Talk by Sébastien Lerique: “The Epidemiology of Representations paradigm for the enquiry of cognition-with-culture: how online experiments surface problematic assumptions”IAS-Research Talk by Sébastien Lerique: “The Epidemiology of Representations paradigm for the enquiry of cognition-with-culture: how online experiments surface problematic assumptions”IAS-Research Talk by Sébastien Lerique: “The Epidemiology of Representations paradigm for the enquiry of cognition-with-culture: how online experiments surface problematic assumptions”

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Date and Time: June 7, Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Sébastien Lerique

Centre d’Analyse et de Mathématique Sociales (EHESS / CNRS, Paris).                     Centre Marc Bloch (CNRS / Humboldt Universität / MAEE / BMBF, Berlin) 

Title: The Epidemiology of Representations paradigm for the enquiry of cognition-with-culture: how online experiments surface problematic assumptions

Abstract:

Since the very beginning of social sciences and that of psychology and later cognitive science, several authors have attempted to unify the study of cognition and culture (or social) in meaningful ways. While the question already existed in Durkheim’s initial works [5], it was only later tackled in earnest by Mauss’ Techniques of the Body [10], Giddens’ Structuration Theory[7] or Bourdieu’s Sens Pratique [1].
          Today’s debate, however, is more defined by proponents from cognitive science. There is, on one side, a theory allying neo-darwinism and cognitive representationalism that is best summed up in Sperber’s Epidemiology of Representations [11] and Boyd and Richerson’s Gene-Culture Co-Evolution [2]. On the other side an enactive proposition which anthropologists like Ingold, in line with Mauss’ initial intuitions, are calling for [9], is being developed by Froese, Di Paolo, and De Jaegher among others [3] [6]. The whole debate is now being fuelled by the accumulation of discoveries in evo-devo and non-genetic inheritance, which do not fit in the modern synthesis’ account of life evolution [8]; this is creating a need for new unifying paradigms and creative empirical methods to test them [4], need which will likely challenge Sperber, Boyd, and Richerson’s dominant theory.
           Testing this theory, however, and especially its macroscopic cultural aspect, has been a real challenge for the field in the last two decades. My goal in this presentation is to show how online and web-based experiments, which offer openings to rise to that challenge, run into the philosophical problems that critiques like Ingold have identified in Sperber’s works. I will begin by presenting Sperber’s Epidemiology of Representations in more detail, fleshing out what it aims for and what underlying principles it bases itself on. I will then briefly present the method and results of one finished and one ongoing experiment studying transmission chains of short sentences (like a written broken telephone game), both inspired by the availability of large datasets of recorded online interactions and by the possibilities offered by modern browsers and the web. I will then try to show how those experiments run into the problem of interpretation and meaning, and how this is the manifestation of problems in the philosophical basis of the theory. I will conclude by evoking what web-based experiments can bring to the enactive approach of unifying the different levels of the study of life.
References

[1] Bourdieu, Pierre. 1980. “Le Sens pratique.” Paris, Les Éditions de Minuit, coll. « Le sens commun ».

[2] Boyd, Robert, and Peter J. Richerson. 1988. “Culture and the evolutionary process.” University of Chicago Press.

[3] Cuffari, Elena Clare, Ezequiel Di Paolo, and Hanne De Jaegher. 2015. “From participatory sense-making to language: there and back again.” Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 14.4 (2015): 1089-1125.

[4] Day, Troy and Russell Bonduriansky. 2011. “A Unified Approach to the Evolutionary Consequences of Genetic and Nongenetic Inheritance.” The American Naturalist 2011 178:2, E18-E36.

[5] Durkheim, Émile. 1976 [1915]. “The elementary forms of the religious life.” Trans. J. W Swain (2nd ed.). London: Allen & Unwin.

[6] Froese, Tom and Ezequiel Di Paolo. 2011. “The enactive approach: Theoretical sketches from cell to society.” Pragmatics & Cognition 19:1 (2011), 1–36.

[7] Giddens, Anthony. 1984. “The constitution of society: outline of the theory of structuration.” Cambridge : Polity Press.

[8] Gilbert, Scott F., Thomas C. G. Bosch, and Cristina Ledón-Rettig. 2015. “Eco-Evo-Devo: developmental symbiosis and developmental plasticity as evolutionary agents.” Nature Reviews Genetics 16, 611–622.

[9] Ingold, Tim. 1999. “Three in one: on dissolving the distinctions between body, mind and culture.”

[10] Mauss, Marcel. 1936. “Les techniques du corps.” Journal de Psychologie, XXXII, ne, 3-4. Communication présentée à la Société de Psychologie le 17 mai 1934.

[11] Sperber, Dan. 1996. “Explaining Culture.” Blackwell.

Date and Time: June 7, Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Sébastien Lerique

Centre d’Analyse et de Mathématique Sociales (EHESS / CNRS, Paris).                     Centre Marc Bloch (CNRS / Humboldt Universität / MAEE / BMBF, Berlin)

Title: The Epidemiology of Representations paradigm for the enquiry of cognition-with-culture: how online experiments surface problematic assumptions

Abstract: Coming soon

Date and Time: June 7, Tuesday, 10:30 a.m.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Sébastien Lerique

Centre d’Analyse et de Mathématique Sociales (EHESS / CNRS, Paris).                     Centre Marc Bloch (CNRS / Humboldt Universität / MAEE / BMBF, Berlin)

Title: The Epidemiology of Representations paradigm for the enquiry of cognition-with-culture: how online experiments surface problematic assumptions

Abstract: Coming soon

IAS-Research Seminar by Xabier Barandiaran: “Collective identities in interaction networks: exploring the technopolitical autonomy of the 15M through neurodynamic analogies”IAS-Research Seminar by Xabier Barandiaran: “Collective identities in interaction networks: exploring the technopolitical autonomy of the 15M through neurodynamic analogies”IAS-Research Seminar by Xabier Barandiaran: “Collective identities in interaction networks: exploring the technopolitical autonomy of the 15M through neurodynamic analogies”

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Date and Time: February 26, Friday, 15.00 pm

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Xabier Barandiaran (UPV-EHU)

Title: Collective identities in interaction networks: exploring the technopolitical autonomy of the 15M through neurodynamic analogies

Abstract: 

The emergence of network-movements since 2011 has opened the debate around the way in which social media and networked practices make possible innovative forms of collective identity. We briefly review the literature on social movements and ‘collective identity’, and show the tension between different positions stressing either organization or culture, the personal or the collective, aggregative or networking logics. We argue that the 15M (indignados) network-movement in Spain demands conceptual and methodological innovations. Its rapid emergence, endurance, diversity, multifaceted development and adaptive capacity, posit numerous theoretical and methodological challenges. We show how the use of structural and dynamic analysis of interaction networks (in combination with qualitative data) is a valuable tool to track the shape and change of what we term the ‘systemic dimension ’ of collective identities in network-movements. In particular, we introduce a novel method for synchrony detection in Facebook activity to identify the distributed, yet integrated, coordinated activity behind collective identities. Applying this analytical strategy to the 15M movement, we show how it displays a specific form of systemic collective identity we call ‘ multitudinous identity ’ , characterized by social transversality and internal heterogeneity, as well as a transient and distributed leadership driven by action initiatives. Our approach attends to the role of distributed interaction and transient leadership at a mesoscale level of organizational dynamics, which may contribute to contemporary discussions of collective identity in network-movements.

Barandiaran, X. E., & Aguilera, M. (2015). Neurociencia y tecnopolítica: hacia un marco analógico para comprender la mente colectiva del 15M. En J. Toret (Ed.), Tecnopolítica y 15M. La potencia de las multitudes conectadas (pp. 163-211). Barcelona: Editorial UOC.
https://xabierbarandiaran.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/arnau_etal_-_2015_multitudinous_identities_15_-_infocomsoc.pdf

Monterde, A., Calleja-López, A., Aguilera, M., Barandiaran, X. E., & Postill, J. (2015). Multitudinous identities: a qualitative and network analysis of the 15M collective identity. Information, Communication and Society, doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2015.1043315 https://xabierbarandiaran.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/barandiaran_n_aguilera_-_2015_-_neurociencia_y_tecnopolitica_15m_-_tecnopolitica15m_cap.pdf

Date and Time: February 26, Friday, 15.00 pm

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Xabier Barandiaran (UPV-EHU)

Title: Collective identities in interaction networks: exploring the technopolitical autonomy of the 15M through neurodynamic analogies

Abstract: 

The emergence of network-movements since 2011 has opened the debate around the way in which social media and networked practices make possible innovative forms of collective identity. We briefly review the literature on social movements and ‘collective identity’, and show the tension between different positions stressing either organization or culture, the personal or the collective, aggregative or networking logics. We argue that the 15M (indignados) network-movement in Spain demands conceptual and methodological innovations. Its rapid emergence, endurance, diversity, multifaceted development and adaptive capacity, posit numerous theoretical and methodological challenges. We show how the use of structural and dynamic analysis of interaction networks (in combination with qualitative data) is a valuable tool to track the shape and change of what we term the ‘systemic dimension ’ of collective identities in network-movements. In particular, we introduce a novel method for synchrony detection in Facebook activity to identify the distributed, yet integrated, coordinated activity behind collective identities. Applying this analytical strategy to the 15M movement, we show how it displays a specific form of systemic collective identity we call ‘ multitudinous identity ’ , characterized by social transversality and internal heterogeneity, as well as a transient and distributed leadership driven by action initiatives. Our approach attends to the role of distributed interaction and transient leadership at a mesoscale level of organizational dynamics, which may contribute to contemporary discussions of collective identity in network-movements.

Barandiaran, X. E., & Aguilera, M. (2015). Neurociencia y tecnopolítica: hacia un marco analógico para comprender la mente colectiva del 15M. En J. Toret (Ed.), Tecnopolítica y 15M. La potencia de las multitudes conectadas (pp. 163-211). Barcelona: Editorial UOC.
https://xabierbarandiaran.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/arnau_etal_-_2015_multitudinous_identities_15_-_infocomsoc.pdf

Monterde, A., Calleja-López, A., Aguilera, M., Barandiaran, X. E., & Postill, J. (2015). Multitudinous identities: a qualitative and network analysis of the 15M collective identity. Information, Communication and Society, doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2015.1043315 https://xabierbarandiaran.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/barandiaran_n_aguilera_-_2015_-_neurociencia_y_tecnopolitica_15m_-_tecnopolitica15m_cap.pdf

Date and Time: February 26, Friday, 15.00 pm

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Xabier Barandiaran (UPV-EHU)

Title: Collective identities in interaction networks: exploring the technopolitical autonomy of the 15M through neurodynamic analogies

Abstract: 

The emergence of network-movements since 2011 has opened the debate around the way in which social media and networked practices make possible innovative forms of collective identity. We briefly review the literature on social movements and ‘collective identity’, and show the tension between different positions stressing either organization or culture, the personal or the collective, aggregative or networking logics. We argue that the 15M (indignados) network-movement in Spain demands conceptual and methodological innovations. Its rapid emergence, endurance, diversity, multifaceted development and adaptive capacity, posit numerous theoretical and methodological challenges. We show how the use of structural and dynamic analysis of interaction networks (in combination with qualitative data) is a valuable tool to track the shape and change of what we term the ‘systemic dimension ’ of collective identities in network-movements. In particular, we introduce a novel method for synchrony detection in Facebook activity to identify the distributed, yet integrated, coordinated activity behind collective identities. Applying this analytical strategy to the 15M movement, we show how it displays a specific form of systemic collective identity we call ‘ multitudinous identity ’ , characterized by social transversality and internal heterogeneity, as well as a transient and distributed leadership driven by action initiatives. Our approach attends to the role of distributed interaction and transient leadership at a mesoscale level of organizational dynamics, which may contribute to contemporary discussions of collective identity in network-movements.

Barandiaran, X. E., & Aguilera, M. (2015). Neurociencia y tecnopolítica: hacia un marco analógico para comprender la mente colectiva del 15M. En J. Toret (Ed.), Tecnopolítica y 15M. La potencia de las multitudes conectadas (pp. 163-211). Barcelona: Editorial UOC.
https://xabierbarandiaran.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/arnau_etal_-_2015_multitudinous_identities_15_-_infocomsoc.pdf

Monterde, A., Calleja-López, A., Aguilera, M., Barandiaran, X. E., & Postill, J. (2015). Multitudinous identities: a qualitative and network analysis of the 15M collective identity. Information, Communication and Society, doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2015.1043315 https://xabierbarandiaran.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/barandiaran_n_aguilera_-_2015_-_neurociencia_y_tecnopolitica_15m_-_tecnopolitica15m_cap.pdf

IAS-Research Seminar by Ezequiel Di Paolo: “Participatory Object Perception”IAS-Research Seminar by Ezequiel Di Paolo: “Participatory Object Perception”IAS-Research Seminar by Ezequiel Di Paolo: “Participatory Object Perception”

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Date and Time: February 26, Friday, 16.00 pm

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Ezequiel Di Paolo (UPV-EHU)

Title: Participatory Object Perception

Abstract: 

When we regard an object with an abstract attitude, taking into account it’s shape, colours and other properties, are we exercising a social skill?
Social factors have so far been neglected in embodied theories to perception despite the wealth of phenomenological insights and empirical evidence indicating their importance. In this talk I examine evidence from developmental psychology and neuroscience and attempt an initial classification of this evidence according to whether social factors play a contextual, enabling, or constitutive role in the ability to perceive objects in a detached manner, i.e., beyond their immediate instrumental use. While evidence of cross-cultural variations in perceptual styles and the influence of social cues on visual attention could not be said to play more than a contextual role, other factors such as the intricate developmental links between dyadic and triadic interactions in infancy, as well as episodes of peer-learning in children play enabling roles. A common element in these factors is the presence and resolution of interpersonal conflict. Detached object perception could not develop without these social factors. I argue, in addition, that social skills such as managing partial social acts which are addressed to and completed by others, linguistic mediation, make- believe play, and the ability to control perspectival switches are constitutive –i.e., are of the essence– for seeing objects as present with a detached attitude. I discuss the prospects of incorporating such social elements into dynamical interpretations of the sensorimotor approach through the enactive notion of participatory sense-making.
This talk is based on this recent article:
Di Paolo, E. A. (2016). Participatory object perception. Journal of Consciousness Studies, forthcoming.

Date and Time: February 26, Friday, 16.00 pm

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Ezequiel Di Paolo (UPV-EHU)

Title: Participatory Object Perception

Abstract: 

When we regard an object with an abstract attitude, taking into account it’s shape, colours and other properties, are we exercising a social skill?
Social factors have so far been neglected in embodied theories to perception despite the wealth of phenomenological insights and empirical evidence indicating their importance. In this talk I examine evidence from developmental psychology and neuroscience and attempt an initial classification of this evidence according to whether social factors play a contextual, enabling, or constitutive role in the ability to perceive objects in a detached manner, i.e., beyond their immediate instrumental use. While evidence of cross-cultural variations in perceptual styles and the influence of social cues on visual attention could not be said to play more than a contextual role, other factors such as the intricate developmental links between dyadic and triadic interactions in infancy, as well as episodes of peer-learning in children play enabling roles. A common element in these factors is the presence and resolution of interpersonal conflict. Detached object perception could not develop without these social factors. I argue, in addition, that social skills such as managing partial social acts which are addressed to and completed by others, linguistic mediation, make- believe play, and the ability to control perspectival switches are constitutive –i.e., are of the essence– for seeing objects as present with a detached attitude. I discuss the prospects of incorporating such social elements into dynamical interpretations of the sensorimotor approach through the enactive notion of participatory sense-making.
This talk is based on this recent article:
Di Paolo, E. A. (2016). Participatory object perception. Journal of Consciousness Studies, forthcoming.

Date and Time: February 26, Friday, 16.00 pm

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Ezequiel Di Paolo (UPV-EHU)

Title: Participatory Object Perception

Abstract: 

When we regard an object with an abstract attitude, taking into account it’s shape, colours and other properties, are we exercising a social skill?
Social factors have so far been neglected in embodied theories to perception despite the wealth of phenomenological insights and empirical evidence indicating their importance. In this talk I examine evidence from developmental psychology and neuroscience and attempt an initial classification of this evidence according to whether social factors play a contextual, enabling, or constitutive role in the ability to perceive objects in a detached manner, i.e., beyond their immediate instrumental use. While evidence of cross-cultural variations in perceptual styles and the influence of social cues on visual attention could not be said to play more than a contextual role, other factors such as the intricate developmental links between dyadic and triadic interactions in infancy, as well as episodes of peer-learning in children play enabling roles. A common element in these factors is the presence and resolution of interpersonal conflict. Detached object perception could not develop without these social factors. I argue, in addition, that social skills such as managing partial social acts which are addressed to and completed by others, linguistic mediation, make- believe play, and the ability to control perspectival switches are constitutive –i.e., are of the essence– for seeing objects as present with a detached attitude. I discuss the prospects of incorporating such social elements into dynamical interpretations of the sensorimotor approach through the enactive notion of participatory sense-making.
This talk is based on this recent article:
Di Paolo, E. A. (2016). Participatory object perception. Journal of Consciousness Studies, forthcoming.

International Workshop ‘SYSTEMS AND EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE’ International Workshop ‘SYSTEMS AND EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE’ International Workshop ‘SYSTEMS AND EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE’

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Date and Time: February 10, Wednesday, 9.30 am

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room A 4

Speakers: Eörs Szathmáry, Sara Murillo-Sánchez and Alvaro Moreno

Title: SYSTEMS AND EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE

Program: Here

Date and Time: February 10, Wednesday, 9.30 am

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room A 4

Speakers: Eörs Szathmáry, Sara Murillo-Sánchez and Alvaro Moreno

Title: SYSTEMS AND EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE

Program: Here

Date and Time: February 10, Wednesday, 9.30 am

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room A 4

Speakers: Eörs Szathmáry, Sara Murillo-Sánchez and Alvaro Moreno

Title: SYSTEMS AND EVOLUTIONARY PERSPECTIVES ON THE ORIGINS OF LIFE

Program: Here

IAS-Research Seminar by Nei de Freitas Nunes-Neto: “Regulation in organisms and its ecological consequences”IAS-Research Seminar by Nei de Freitas Nunes-Neto: “Regulation in organisms and its ecological consequences”IAS-Research Seminar by Nei de Freitas Nunes-Neto: “Regulation in organisms and its ecological consequences”

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Date and Time: December 14, Monday, 11.30 am

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Nei de Freitas Nunes-Neto (Federal University of Bahia, Brazil)

Title: Regulation in organisms and its ecological consequences

Abstract: 

In this talk, we argue that one of the keys to understand how increasingly complex and diverse ecosystems can reach stability lies in the internal regulation of complex multicellular organisms. Indeed, multicellular organisms are able to perform new and complex ecological functions, which, at least in the case of many animals, strongly depend on regulatory controls exerted by the multicellular organism on an internal ecological community, harbored in their guts. Through the development of a case study on termites harboring an internal ecological community in their guts, we highlight two main general issues. First, that regulation implies an asymmetric relation between the regulatory and the regulated level, where the higher, regulatory level functionally modulates lower level functions. And second, that this hierarchical organization implies that, in order for a (sub)system to exert a regulatory control, it requires a capacity for global functional integration. Based on this conceptualization, we extend on the ecological consequences of regulation, arguing that the performance of the ecological functions by multicellular animals can be interpreted as actions of niche construction, in the context of larger ecosystems, contributing to their stability. Additionally, as a final point, we make a comparison of our view with the holobiont theory.

Date and Time: December 14, Monday, 11.30 am

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Nei de Freitas Nunes-Neto (Federal University of Bahia, Brazil)

Title: Regulation in organisms and its ecological consequences

Abstract: 

In this talk, we argue that one of the keys to understand how increasingly complex and diverse ecosystems can reach stability lies in the internal regulation of complex multicellular organisms. Indeed, multicellular organisms are able to perform new and complex ecological functions, which, at least in the case of many animals, strongly depend on regulatory controls exerted by the multicellular organism on an internal ecological community, harbored in their guts. Through the development of a case study on termites harboring an internal ecological community in their guts, we highlight two main general issues. First, that regulation implies an asymmetric relation between the regulatory and the regulated level, where the higher, regulatory level functionally modulates lower level functions. And second, that this hierarchical organization implies that, in order for a (sub)system to exert a regulatory control, it requires a capacity for global functional integration. Based on this conceptualization, we extend on the ecological consequences of regulation, arguing that the performance of the ecological functions by multicellular animals can be interpreted as actions of niche construction, in the context of larger ecosystems, contributing to their stability. Additionally, as a final point, we make a comparison of our view with the holobiont theory.

Date and Time: December 14, Monday, 11.30 am

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Nei de Freitas Nunes-Neto (Federal University of Bahia, Brazil)

Title: Regulation in organisms and its ecological consequences

Abstract: 

In this talk, we argue that one of the keys to understand how increasingly complex and diverse ecosystems can reach stability lies in the internal regulation of complex multicellular organisms. Indeed, multicellular organisms are able to perform new and complex ecological functions, which, at least in the case of many animals, strongly depend on regulatory controls exerted by the multicellular organism on an internal ecological community, harbored in their guts. Through the development of a case study on termites harboring an internal ecological community in their guts, we highlight two main general issues. First, that regulation implies an asymmetric relation between the regulatory and the regulated level, where the higher, regulatory level functionally modulates lower level functions. And second, that this hierarchical organization implies that, in order for a (sub)system to exert a regulatory control, it requires a capacity for global functional integration. Based on this conceptualization, we extend on the ecological consequences of regulation, arguing that the performance of the ecological functions by multicellular animals can be interpreted as actions of niche construction, in the context of larger ecosystems, contributing to their stability. Additionally, as a final point, we make a comparison of our view with the holobiont theory.

Talk by Roslyn M. Frank: “A cognitive approach to the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) in Euskera: Three examples”.Talk by Roslyn M. Frank: “A cognitive approach to the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) in Euskera: Three examples”.Talk by Roslyn M. Frank: “A cognitive approach to the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) in Euskera: Three examples”.

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Date and Time: November 30, Monday, 11.30 am.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Roslyn M. Frank (University of Iowa) (https://uiowa.academia.edu/RoslynMFrank)

Title: A cognitive approach to the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) in Euskera: Three examples

Abstract: 

The talk begins with a brief overview of the way that ‘language’ has come to be defined as a complex adaptive system and how concepts such as distributed cognition and cultural conceptualizations are being brought to bear in order to analyze the cognitive dimensions of language, in this instance the Basque language. The role played by the sociocultural situatedness of language agents as well as language itself in the production of macro- and micro-level structure of a linguistic system is highlighted. Next, factors contributing to the stability of a linguistically instantiated schema are summarized, e.g., the notion of networking, that is, the way that mutually supporting instantiations of a schema can contribute to its stability and continuity across time. Even when the cognitive schema entrenched in the language is not consciously perceived by its speakers, the participating linguistic subsystems still provide mutual structural support for each other. As will be demonstrated, from a cognitive perspective the three subsystems that will be examined in the talk act to support each other and have contributed to the stability of the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) across time. As a bridging mechanism for the last section of the talk, the need to consider the ‘dialogic dimension’ of language is brought forward which as Stawarska (2009) has noted, involves moving beyond first-person transcendental subjectivity and the limited scope of first and third modes at the exclusion of the first-to-second person mode of interrelatedness. In the last part of the talk the way that the Basque language emphasizes the first-to-second person mode of interrelatedness and structurally incorporates the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ will be addressed. To illustrate how this schema is instantiated, three examples of subsystems that feed into the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ will be analyzed. All three of them are present in the Basque language today. Moreover, as will be demonstrated, this cognitive schema is deeply embedded in the Basque language and shows significant time-depth. Although no knowledge of Basque is required to follow the presentation, Basque speakers may discover that Euskera has some remarkable cognitive dimensions that until now have gone relatively unnoticed, not the least of which is the way that schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ contrasts with the schema of ‘monologic subjectivity’ found in languages like Spanish and English.

Selected references: 

Azkarate, M., & Altuna, P. (2001). Euskal morfologiaren historia. Donostia: Elkarlanean, S.L.

Cuffari, E. C., Di Paolo, E., & De Jaegher, H. (2014). From participatory sense-making to language: There and back again. Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, 1-37. DOI 10.1007/s11097-11014-19404-11099.

De Jaegher, H., & Di Paolo, E. (2007). Participatory sense-making. Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, 6, 485-507.

Frank, R. M. (2005). Shifting identities: A comparative study of Basque and Western cultural conceptualizations. Cahiers of the Association for French Language Studies, 11(2), 1-54. http://tinyurl.com/shifting-identities-in-Basque.

Frank, R. M. (2013). Body and mind in Euskara: Contrasting dialogic and monologic subjectivities. In R. Caballero-Rodríguez & J. E. Díaz Vera (Eds.), Sensuous Cognition: Explorations into Human Sentience: Imagination, (E)motion and Perception (pp. 19-51). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. http://tinyurl.com/body-and-mind-in-Euskara.

Frank, R. M. (2014). A complex adaptive systems approach to language, cultural schemas and serial metonymy: Charting the cognitive innovations of ‘fingers’ and ‘claws’ in Basque. In J. E. Díaz-Vera (Ed.), Metaphor and Metonymy through Time and Cultures: Perspectives on the Sociohistorical Linguistics of Figurative Language (pp. 65-94). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Frank, R. M. (2015a). Cultural Linguistics and the future agenda for research on language and culture. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), Routledge Handbook on Language and Culture (pp. 493-512). New York/London: Routledge. http://tinyurl.com/cultural-linguistics.

Frank, R. M. (2015b). The relevance of a ‘Complex Adaptive Systems’ approach to ‘language’: A bridge for increased dialogue between the disciplines of cognitive and evolutionary linguistics. Presentation at the 13th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, July 20-26 2015, Northumbrian University, Newcastle, UK. [Invited talk at the Theme Session “Cognitive Linguistics and the Evolution of Language: Converging Perspectives”] http://tinyurl.com/CAS-ICLC-2015.

Frank, R. M., & Gontier, N. (2010). On constructing a research model for historical cognitive linguistics (HCL): Some theoretical considerations. In H. Tissari, P. Koivisto-Alanko, K. I. Allan, & M. Winter (Eds.), Historical Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 31-69). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. http://tinyurl.com/model-HCL.

Fuchs, T., & De Jaegher, H. (2010). Non-representational subjectivity. In T. Fuchs, H. C. Sattel, & P. Henningsen (Eds.), The Embodied Self: Dimensions, Coherence and Disorders (pp. 203-214). Stuttgart: Schattauer Verlag.

Maynard, S. K. (2007). Linguistic Creativity in Japanese Discourse: Exploring the Multiplicity of Self, Perspective and Voice. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Michelena, L. ([1979] 1987). Miscelánea filológica vasca IV. In L. Mitxelena (Ed.), Palabras y textos (pp. 435-463). Bilbao: Universidad del País Vasco. Publicado en Fontes Linguae Vasconum XX, 33: 377-406

Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (1998). Allocutivity and voice in the Basque verb. In L. Kulikov & H. Vater (Eds.), Typology of Verbal Categories (pp. 169-178). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.

Naruoka, K. (2008). Expressivity of Demonstratives: A Contrastive Study in Japanese and English Discourse. Japan Women’s University.

Sharifian, F. (2009). On collective cognition and language. In H. Pishwa (Ed.), Social Cognition and Language: Expression of the Social Mind (pp. 163-180). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Sharifian, F. (2011). Cultural Conceptualizations and Language: Theoretical Framework and Applications. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Stawarska, B. (2009). Between You and I. Athens   Ohio University Press.

Stewart, J., Gapenne, O., & Di Paolo, E. A. (2011). Introduction. In J. Stewart, O. Gapenne, & E. A. Di Paolo (Eds.), Enactivism: Towards a New Paradigm in Cognitive Science (pp. vii-xvii). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Date and Time: November 30, Monday, 11.30 am.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Roslyn M. Frank (University of Iowa) (https://uiowa.academia.edu/RoslynMFrank)

Title: A cognitive approach to the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) in Euskera: Three examples

Abstract: 

The talk begins with a brief overview of the way that ‘language’ has come to be defined as a complex adaptive system and how concepts such as distributed cognition and cultural conceptualizations are being brought to bear in order to analyze the cognitive dimensions of language, in this instance the Basque language. The role played by the sociocultural situatedness of language agents as well as language itself in the production of macro- and micro-level structure of a linguistic system is highlighted. Next, factors contributing to the stability of a linguistically instantiated schema are summarized, e.g., the notion of networking, that is, the way that mutually supporting instantiations of a schema can contribute to its stability and continuity across time. Even when the cognitive schema entrenched in the language is not consciously perceived by its speakers, the participating linguistic subsystems still provide mutual structural support for each other. As will be demonstrated, from a cognitive perspective the three subsystems that will be examined in the talk act to support each other and have contributed to the stability of the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) across time. As a bridging mechanism for the last section of the talk, the need to consider the ‘dialogic dimension’ of language is brought forward which as Stawarska (2009) has noted, involves moving beyond first-person transcendental subjectivity and the limited scope of first and third modes at the exclusion of the first-to-second person mode of interrelatedness. In the last part of the talk the way that the Basque language emphasizes the first-to-second person mode of interrelatedness and structurally incorporates the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ will be addressed. To illustrate how this schema is instantiated, three examples of subsystems that feed into the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ will be analyzed. All three of them are present in the Basque language today. Moreover, as will be demonstrated, this cognitive schema is deeply embedded in the Basque language and shows significant time-depth. Although no knowledge of Basque is required to follow the presentation, Basque speakers may discover that Euskera has some remarkable cognitive dimensions that until now have gone relatively unnoticed, not the least of which is the way that schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ contrasts with the schema of ‘monologic subjectivity’ found in languages like Spanish and English.

Selected references: 

Azkarate, M., & Altuna, P. (2001). Euskal morfologiaren historia. Donostia: Elkarlanean, S.L.

Cuffari, E. C., Di Paolo, E., & De Jaegher, H. (2014). From participatory sense-making to language: There and back again. Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, 1-37. DOI 10.1007/s11097-11014-19404-11099.

De Jaegher, H., & Di Paolo, E. (2007). Participatory sense-making. Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, 6, 485-507.

Frank, R. M. (2005). Shifting identities: A comparative study of Basque and Western cultural conceptualizations. Cahiers of the Association for French Language Studies, 11(2), 1-54. http://tinyurl.com/shifting-identities-in-Basque.

Frank, R. M. (2013). Body and mind in Euskara: Contrasting dialogic and monologic subjectivities. In R. Caballero-Rodríguez & J. E. Díaz Vera (Eds.), Sensuous Cognition: Explorations into Human Sentience: Imagination, (E)motion and Perception (pp. 19-51). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. http://tinyurl.com/body-and-mind-in-Euskara.

Frank, R. M. (2014). A complex adaptive systems approach to language, cultural schemas and serial metonymy: Charting the cognitive innovations of ‘fingers’ and ‘claws’ in Basque. In J. E. Díaz-Vera (Ed.), Metaphor and Metonymy through Time and Cultures: Perspectives on the Sociohistorical Linguistics of Figurative Language (pp. 65-94). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Frank, R. M. (2015a). Cultural Linguistics and the future agenda for research on language and culture. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), Routledge Handbook on Language and Culture (pp. 493-512). New York/London: Routledge. http://tinyurl.com/cultural-linguistics.

Frank, R. M. (2015b). The relevance of a ‘Complex Adaptive Systems’ approach to ‘language’: A bridge for increased dialogue between the disciplines of cognitive and evolutionary linguistics. Presentation at the 13th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, July 20-26 2015, Northumbrian University, Newcastle, UK. [Invited talk at the Theme Session “Cognitive Linguistics and the Evolution of Language: Converging Perspectives”] http://tinyurl.com/CAS-ICLC-2015.

Frank, R. M., & Gontier, N. (2010). On constructing a research model for historical cognitive linguistics (HCL): Some theoretical considerations. In H. Tissari, P. Koivisto-Alanko, K. I. Allan, & M. Winter (Eds.), Historical Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 31-69). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. http://tinyurl.com/model-HCL.

Fuchs, T., & De Jaegher, H. (2010). Non-representational subjectivity. In T. Fuchs, H. C. Sattel, & P. Henningsen (Eds.), The Embodied Self: Dimensions, Coherence and Disorders (pp. 203-214). Stuttgart: Schattauer Verlag.

Maynard, S. K. (2007). Linguistic Creativity in Japanese Discourse: Exploring the Multiplicity of Self, Perspective and Voice. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Michelena, L. ([1979] 1987). Miscelánea filológica vasca IV. In L. Mitxelena (Ed.), Palabras y textos (pp. 435-463). Bilbao: Universidad del País Vasco. Publicado en Fontes Linguae Vasconum XX, 33: 377-406

Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (1998). Allocutivity and voice in the Basque verb. In L. Kulikov & H. Vater (Eds.), Typology of Verbal Categories (pp. 169-178). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.

Naruoka, K. (2008). Expressivity of Demonstratives: A Contrastive Study in Japanese and English Discourse. Japan Women’s University.

Sharifian, F. (2009). On collective cognition and language. In H. Pishwa (Ed.), Social Cognition and Language: Expression of the Social Mind (pp. 163-180). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Sharifian, F. (2011). Cultural Conceptualizations and Language: Theoretical Framework and Applications. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Stawarska, B. (2009). Between You and I. Athens   Ohio University Press.

Stewart, J., Gapenne, O., & Di Paolo, E. A. (2011). Introduction. In J. Stewart, O. Gapenne, & E. A. Di Paolo (Eds.), Enactivism: Towards a New Paradigm in Cognitive Science (pp. vii-xvii). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Date and Time: November 30, Monday, 11.30 am.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Roslyn M. Frank (University of Iowa) (https://uiowa.academia.edu/RoslynMFrank)

Title: A cognitive approach to the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) in Euskera: Three examples

Abstract: 

The talk begins with a brief overview of the way that ‘language’ has come to be defined as a complex adaptive system and how concepts such as distributed cognition and cultural conceptualizations are being brought to bear in order to analyze the cognitive dimensions of language, in this instance the Basque language. The role played by the sociocultural situatedness of language agents as well as language itself in the production of macro- and micro-level structure of a linguistic system is highlighted. Next, factors contributing to the stability of a linguistically instantiated schema are summarized, e.g., the notion of networking, that is, the way that mutually supporting instantiations of a schema can contribute to its stability and continuity across time. Even when the cognitive schema entrenched in the language is not consciously perceived by its speakers, the participating linguistic subsystems still provide mutual structural support for each other. As will be demonstrated, from a cognitive perspective the three subsystems that will be examined in the talk act to support each other and have contributed to the stability of the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ (elkarrekikotasuna) across time. As a bridging mechanism for the last section of the talk, the need to consider the ‘dialogic dimension’ of language is brought forward which as Stawarska (2009) has noted, involves moving beyond first-person transcendental subjectivity and the limited scope of first and third modes at the exclusion of the first-to-second person mode of interrelatedness. In the last part of the talk the way that the Basque language emphasizes the first-to-second person mode of interrelatedness and structurally incorporates the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ will be addressed. To illustrate how this schema is instantiated, three examples of subsystems that feed into the schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ will be analyzed. All three of them are present in the Basque language today. Moreover, as will be demonstrated, this cognitive schema is deeply embedded in the Basque language and shows significant time-depth. Although no knowledge of Basque is required to follow the presentation, Basque speakers may discover that Euskera has some remarkable cognitive dimensions that until now have gone relatively unnoticed, not the least of which is the way that schema of ‘dialogic subjectivity’ contrasts with the schema of ‘monologic subjectivity’ found in languages like Spanish and English.

Selected references: 

Azkarate, M., & Altuna, P. (2001). Euskal morfologiaren historia. Donostia: Elkarlanean, S.L.

Cuffari, E. C., Di Paolo, E., & De Jaegher, H. (2014). From participatory sense-making to language: There and back again. Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, 1-37. DOI 10.1007/s11097-11014-19404-11099.

De Jaegher, H., & Di Paolo, E. (2007). Participatory sense-making. Phenomenology and Cognitive Science, 6, 485-507.

Frank, R. M. (2005). Shifting identities: A comparative study of Basque and Western cultural conceptualizations. Cahiers of the Association for French Language Studies, 11(2), 1-54. http://tinyurl.com/shifting-identities-in-Basque.

Frank, R. M. (2013). Body and mind in Euskara: Contrasting dialogic and monologic subjectivities. In R. Caballero-Rodríguez & J. E. Díaz Vera (Eds.), Sensuous Cognition: Explorations into Human Sentience: Imagination, (E)motion and Perception (pp. 19-51). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. http://tinyurl.com/body-and-mind-in-Euskara.

Frank, R. M. (2014). A complex adaptive systems approach to language, cultural schemas and serial metonymy: Charting the cognitive innovations of ‘fingers’ and ‘claws’ in Basque. In J. E. Díaz-Vera (Ed.), Metaphor and Metonymy through Time and Cultures: Perspectives on the Sociohistorical Linguistics of Figurative Language (pp. 65-94). Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Frank, R. M. (2015a). Cultural Linguistics and the future agenda for research on language and culture. In F. Sharifian (Ed.), Routledge Handbook on Language and Culture (pp. 493-512). New York/London: Routledge. http://tinyurl.com/cultural-linguistics.

Frank, R. M. (2015b). The relevance of a ‘Complex Adaptive Systems’ approach to ‘language’: A bridge for increased dialogue between the disciplines of cognitive and evolutionary linguistics. Presentation at the 13th International Cognitive Linguistics Conference, July 20-26 2015, Northumbrian University, Newcastle, UK. [Invited talk at the Theme Session “Cognitive Linguistics and the Evolution of Language: Converging Perspectives”] http://tinyurl.com/CAS-ICLC-2015.

Frank, R. M., & Gontier, N. (2010). On constructing a research model for historical cognitive linguistics (HCL): Some theoretical considerations. In H. Tissari, P. Koivisto-Alanko, K. I. Allan, & M. Winter (Eds.), Historical Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 31-69). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter. http://tinyurl.com/model-HCL.

Fuchs, T., & De Jaegher, H. (2010). Non-representational subjectivity. In T. Fuchs, H. C. Sattel, & P. Henningsen (Eds.), The Embodied Self: Dimensions, Coherence and Disorders (pp. 203-214). Stuttgart: Schattauer Verlag.

Maynard, S. K. (2007). Linguistic Creativity in Japanese Discourse: Exploring the Multiplicity of Self, Perspective and Voice. Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Michelena, L. ([1979] 1987). Miscelánea filológica vasca IV. In L. Mitxelena (Ed.), Palabras y textos (pp. 435-463). Bilbao: Universidad del País Vasco. Publicado en Fontes Linguae Vasconum XX, 33: 377-406

Moreno Cabrera, J. C. (1998). Allocutivity and voice in the Basque verb. In L. Kulikov & H. Vater (Eds.), Typology of Verbal Categories (pp. 169-178). Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.

Naruoka, K. (2008). Expressivity of Demonstratives: A Contrastive Study in Japanese and English Discourse. Japan Women’s University.

Sharifian, F. (2009). On collective cognition and language. In H. Pishwa (Ed.), Social Cognition and Language: Expression of the Social Mind (pp. 163-180). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Sharifian, F. (2011). Cultural Conceptualizations and Language: Theoretical Framework and Applications. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Stawarska, B. (2009). Between You and I. Athens   Ohio University Press.

Stewart, J., Gapenne, O., & Di Paolo, E. A. (2011). Introduction. In J. Stewart, O. Gapenne, & E. A. Di Paolo (Eds.), Enactivism: Towards a New Paradigm in Cognitive Science (pp. vii-xvii). Cambridge: MIT Press.

Talk by Francisco Vergara Silva (UNAM, Mexico): “Evolución biocultural y filosofía de la ciencia”Ponencia de Francisco Vergara Silva (UNAM, México): “Evolución biocultural y filosofía de la ciencia”Talk by Francisco Vergara Silva (UNAM, Mexico): “Evolución biocultural y filosofía de la ciencia”

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Date and Time: November 9, Monday, 11.30 am.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Francisco Vergara Silva (Institute of Biology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Title: Evolución biocultural y filosofía de la ciencia

Abstract: 

Los estudios científicos sobre la evolución de Homo sapiens, sus parientes filogenéticos cercanos, y algunas especies biológicas cuya relación con grupos humanos concretos se intensificó al inicio del Holoceno –i.e. las múltiples especies domesticadas que sustentaron el origen de la agricultura y la configuración de sociedades jerárquicas– pasan actualmente por un momento de auge. Al tiempo que dichas investigaciones evolucionistas involucran cruces entre diversas aproximaciones metodológicas, fortaleciendo campos híbridos como la arqueogenética o la paleogenómica, la filosofía de la ciencia –en especial, la que se encuentra ligada con la teorización en biología– está tomando parte cada vez más notoria en dichas interacciones disciplinares. En esta charla trataré el caso de la teoría de construcción de nicho (TCN) cultural, en tanto espacio de confluencia de diversas comunidades y discursos, científicos y filosófico-científicos, acerca de patrones y procesos evolutivos que –en mi opinión– se acoplan sin dificultad a una noción de bioculturalidad. En complemento a esta visión de conjunto, abordaré los aspectos conceptuales de un conjunto de investigaciones sobre evolución humana, predominantemente arqueológicas, desarrolladas inicialmente en el sureste de México por especialistas norteamericanos hace aproximadamente medio siglo. En función de ambos tratamientos, argumentaré que el interés antropológico contemporáneo por la TCN(C) se explica mejor como resultado de su ‘raíz arqueológica’ y que, por tanto, diversos recursos analíticos arqueológicos actuales bien podrían enriquecer a una ‘síntesis evolutiva extendida biocultural’ en la misma medida –o aún más– que los que provienen propiamente de la biología. Esta presentación busca contribuir a discusiones sobre las afinidades disciplinares múltiples del pensamiento evolucionista contemporáneo, así como a reflexiones sobre la interacción entre ciencia y filosofía de la ciencia en los estudios académicos situados en ‘áreas bioculturales megadiversas’, como Mesoamérica.

Fecha y hora: 9 de Noviembre, lunes, 11.30 am.

Lugar: Edificio Carlos Santamaría, Sala B14

Ponente: Francisco Vergara Silva (Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Título: Evolución biocultural y filosofía de la ciencia

Resumen: 

Los estudios científicos sobre la evolución de Homo sapiens, sus parientes filogenéticos cercanos, y algunas especies biológicas cuya relación con grupos humanos concretos se intensificó al inicio del Holoceno –i.e. las múltiples especies domesticadas que sustentaron el origen de la agricultura y la configuración de sociedades jerárquicas– pasan actualmente por un momento de auge. Al tiempo que dichas investigaciones evolucionistas involucran cruces entre diversas aproximaciones metodológicas, fortaleciendo campos híbridos como la arqueogenética o la paleogenómica, la filosofía de la ciencia –en especial, la que se encuentra ligada con la teorización en biología– está tomando parte cada vez más notoria en dichas interacciones disciplinares. En esta charla trataré el caso de la teoría de construcción de nicho (TCN) cultural, en tanto espacio de confluencia de diversas comunidades y discursos, científicos y filosófico-científicos, acerca de patrones y procesos evolutivos que –en mi opinión– se acoplan sin dificultad a una noción de bioculturalidad. En complemento a esta visión de conjunto, abordaré los aspectos conceptuales de un conjunto de investigaciones sobre evolución humana, predominantemente arqueológicas, desarrolladas inicialmente en el sureste de México por especialistas norteamericanos hace aproximadamente medio siglo. En función de ambos tratamientos, argumentaré que el interés antropológico contemporáneo por la TCN(C) se explica mejor como resultado de su ‘raíz arqueológica’ y que, por tanto, diversos recursos analíticos arqueológicos actuales bien podrían enriquecer a una ‘síntesis evolutiva extendida biocultural’ en la misma medida –o aún más– que los que provienen propiamente de la biología. Esta presentación busca contribuir a discusiones sobre las afinidades disciplinares múltiples del pensamiento evolucionista contemporáneo, así como a reflexiones sobre la interacción entre ciencia y filosofía de la ciencia en los estudios académicos situados en ‘áreas bioculturales megadiversas’, como Mesoamérica.

Date and Time: November 9, Monday, 11.30 am.

Location: Carlos Santamaría Building, Room B14

Speaker: Francisco Vergara Silva (Institute de Biology, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México)

Title: Evolución biocultural y filosofía de la ciencia

Abstract: 

Los estudios científicos sobre la evolución de Homo sapiens, sus parientes filogenéticos cercanos, y algunas especies biológicas cuya relación con grupos humanos concretos se intensificó al inicio del Holoceno –i.e. las múltiples especies domesticadas que sustentaron el origen de la agricultura y la configuración de sociedades jerárquicas– pasan actualmente por un momento de auge. Al tiempo que dichas investigaciones evolucionistas involucran cruces entre diversas aproximaciones metodológicas, fortaleciendo campos híbridos como la arqueogenética o la paleogenómica, la filosofía de la ciencia –en especial, la que se encuentra ligada con la teorización en biología– está tomando parte cada vez más notoria en dichas interacciones disciplinares. En esta charla trataré el caso de la teoría de construcción de nicho (TCN) cultural, en tanto espacio de confluencia de diversas comunidades y discursos, científicos y filosófico-científicos, acerca de patrones y procesos evolutivos que –en mi opinión– se acoplan sin dificultad a una noción de bioculturalidad. En complemento a esta visión de conjunto, abordaré los aspectos conceptuales de un conjunto de investigaciones sobre evolución humana, predominantemente arqueológicas, desarrolladas inicialmente en el sureste de México por especialistas norteamericanos hace aproximadamente medio siglo. En función de ambos tratamientos, argumentaré que el interés antropológico contemporáneo por la TCN(C) se explica mejor como resultado de su ‘raíz arqueológica’ y que, por tanto, diversos recursos analíticos arqueológicos actuales bien podrían enriquecer a una ‘síntesis evolutiva extendida biocultural’ en la misma medida –o aún más– que los que provienen propiamente de la biología. Esta presentación busca contribuir a discusiones sobre las afinidades disciplinares múltiples del pensamiento evolucionista contemporáneo, así como a reflexiones sobre la interacción entre ciencia y filosofía de la ciencia en los estudios académicos situados en ‘áreas bioculturales megadiversas’, como Mesoamérica.