Seminars and lectures in summer term 2015

Block-Seminar: "Predictive Brain"
with Prof. Dr. Stephan Sellmaier, Prof. Dr. Michael Pauen, and Prof. Dr. Henrik Walter, Humboldt Universität Berlin

11. - 15. March
Venice International University (VIU), San Servolo

Participation is restricted to GSN students

Block-Seminar: "Perception, Context and Cognition - Contemporary Issues"

with Prof. Dr. Stephan Sellmaier and Prof. Dr. Johannes Haag, Universität Potsdam

19. - 25. April
Venice International University (VIU), San Servolo

Since Réné Descartes, philosophers working on the topic of perception have been particularly keen on developing their theories in the light of contemporary work in the medical and biological sciences on the human sensory apparatus. This has remained true until the present day, where philosophers of perception try to connect their work to the latest neuroscientific findings.

However, the present-day discussion often fails to take properly into account the very rich and sophisticated framework of many of the historical debates. This is partly due to the fact that the current debate – especially in the Anglo-Saxon countries – is mostly informed by the empiricist tradition, which has not only led to a one-sided, but also a rather simplistic approach to many issues. While this approach, which has historically been connected to fundamentalism in epistemology and meaning-atomism in the philosophy of language, has been forcefully critizised by philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein and Wilfred Sellars in the mid-20th century, it is still the one widely presupposed by many philosophers working in this area today.
We want to contribute to correcting this failure by discussing actual problems in the neuroscience of perception in a framework informed by the Kantian philosophical tradition. The question we will mostly be focussing on will be how perception is framed by context and the conceptual capacities of the perceiver.

Vorlesung: "Mentales Verursachen von Handlungen und Fertigkeiten"
Prof. Dr. Stephan Sellmaier

Do 10-12 Uhr LMU Hauptgebäude Raum A 120

In der Vorlesung, die immer wieder Bezüge zu aktuellen Erkenntnissen der Neurowissenschaften und der Sozialpsychologie herstellt, steht die Erklärung aber auch das Verständnis menschlichen Handelns im Vordergrund. Es wird auf gängige Konzepte der Philosophie des Geistes aber auch Themen aus der Neuroethik eingegangen. Zentrales Anliegen ist die Entwicklung eines Modells mentaler Verursachung, dass es erlaubt, den Wert mentaler Erklärungen neben all seinen durch die naturwissenschaftliche Forschung aufgedeckten Limitationen zu verstehen. Dafür wird eine philosophischen Handlungstheorie vorgestellt, für die der Begriff menschlicher Fertigkeiten von zentraler Bedeutung ist.

 

Lecture + Tutorium: "Introduction into Neurophilosophy"
with Prof. Dr. Benedikt Grothe and Prof. Dr. Stephan Sellmaier

Tue 9-13 Uhr (5th. and 19th. May, 2th. and 16th. June, 7th. July) Biocenter Martinsried/Planneg GSN Room

(GSN students only)