Dear all The second CamPoS seminar of Michaelmas term will be given by Dr Henry Shevlin <http://henryshevlin.com/ <http://henryshevlin.com/>>, Research Associate at the Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence, University of Cambridge. Details as follows:
Time: Today, 1-2:30pm Place: Seminar Room 2, Department of History and Philosophy of Science (Free School Lane, CB2 3RH) Title: Theories of consciousness and animal minds: a modest theoretical proposal Abstract: The scientific study of consciousness has made considerable progress in the last three decades, especially among cognitive theories of consciousness such as the Global Neuronal Workspace account, Higher-order Thought theory, and Attention Schema theory. Such theories are typically concerned to identify correlates of conscious and unconscious processing in human beings. However, in light of heightened recent interest in consciousness in animals and even artificial systems, a key question for researchers is whether and how we can apply these frameworks to non-human subjects. In this talk, I review the prospects of this endeavour and discuss some challenges. I focus in particular on what I call the Specificity Problem, which concerns how we can determine an appropriate level of fineness of grain to adopt when moving from human to non-human cases. In light of this and other problems, I argue that most theories of consciousness currently lack the theoretical resources to allow for their straightforward application to non-humans. However, I also argue that a purely behavioural approach to non-human consciousness that eschews explicit theoretical considerations is unlikely to give clear answers to some important cases. Instead, I defend what I call a Modest Theoretical Approach, that aims to combine insights from the theories of consciousness debate with data from behavioural ecology, comparative neuroscience, and other sciences of non-human minds. Full information about the talk is here: https://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/132097 <https://talks.cam.ac.uk/talk/index/132097> The term card for the rest of Michaelmas 2019 is as follows: 6 November Sahanika Ratnayake (Philosophy, Cambridge) An Appraisal Of Scientific Reasoning As Therapy In Cognitive Behavioural Therapy 13 November Wesley Buckwalter (University of Manchester) The replication crisis and philosophy 20 November Enno Fischer (Leibniz Universität Hannover) Actual causation 27 November Bryan W. Roberts (LSE) The good news about killing people 4 December Jonathan Birch (LSE) The search for invertebrate consciousness All details for CamPoS are available at https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/seminars-reading-groups/campos <https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/news-events/seminars-reading-groups/campos> You can also follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/CamPhilSci <https://twitter.com/CamPhilSci> The HPS department can provide assisted step-free access to Seminar Room 2 by arrangement via the back door to the Whipple Museum (which has a lift that can take a person to all levels) and also the Library (which also has assisted lift access to all levels). For further details please contact the HPS Reception <hps-ad...@lists.cam.ac.uk <mailto:hps-ad...@lists.cam.ac.uk>>, or consult the university's Building Access Guide <https://www.disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/building-access-guide <https://www.disability.admin.cam.ac.uk/building-access-guide>>. All are welcome. All the best Matt Dr Matt Farr • Teaching Associate in Philosophy of Science University of Cambridge • Department of History & Philosophy of Science Free School Lane | Cambridge | CB2 3RH w mattfarr.co.uk <http://www.mattfarr.co.uk/> | e mw...@cam.ac.uk <mailto:mw...@cam.ac.uk> | t 01223334559 _____________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from the CamPhilEvents mailing list, or change your membership options, please visit the list information page: http://bit.ly/CamPhilEvents List archive: https://lists.cam.ac.uk/pipermail/phil-events/ Please note that CamPhilEvents doesn't accept email attachments. See the list information page for further details and suggested alternatives.
