030005 Introduction into Cognitive Science (Newen, Rose, Schlicht)
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The lecture is offered in English only. Philosophy students can participate in this intensely interdisciplinary lecture to learn central concepts and methods in cognitive science. Cognitive science developed into a central basis of modern philosophy of mind, epistemology and theories of AI systems. Thus, we offer philosophy students (in all programs) insight into Cognitive Science. A precondition is a very good performance in the logic course in philosophy. The lecture can be used to earn an ungraded certificate on the basis of a written exam. Philosophy students can choose a focus on theoretical concepts but also have to learn central knowledge in cognitive neuroscience as well as computational modelling.
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Date Topic CogSci
17.10.2023 Theoretical Frameworks in Cognitive Science 1
24.10.2023 Cognitive Neuroscience of Perception
31.10.2023 Theoretical Frameworks in Cognitive Science 2
07.11.2023 Theories of Consciousness
14.11.2023 Cognitive models of semantics and pragmatics
21.11.2023 Cognitive Neuroscience of Emotion
28.11.2023 Theories of Emotion
05.12.2023 Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory
12.12.2023 Theory of Perception and Cognition
19.12.2023 Stress and its role for cognitive abilities
09.01.2024 Computational approaches to Cognitive Science
16.01.2024 Reinforcement Learning in the Brain 1
23.01.2024 Reinforcement Learning in the Brain 2
30.01.2024 Supervised Learning in Neural Networks
The literature will be provided via moodle during the course.
030078 Social Epistemology: Diversity and Wisdom of the Crowds (Michelini)
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Have you ever wondered whether asking a large group of people to take political decisions is epistemically sound? Are you curious if an assembly of everyday (but diverse) citizens can outshine seasoned politicians in leading a city? Intrigued by whether or not a jury of laypeople surpasses a single worldly juror in judging defendants? If so, this course is made for you.
In recent years, philosophers have engaged in an ongoing debate to determine which communities excel at finding epistemic solutions and making informed decisions. This discussion has generated two fascinating hypotheses:
1. Diverse groups of problem-solvers trump non-diverse experts in decision-making.
2. Large groups of people, under specific conditions, exhibit remarkable epistemic accuracy (Wisdom Of the Crowd).
The implications of these hypotheses are profound. For instance, the second point serves as an epistemic justification for democracy, as it posits that democracy is the superior political system for making correct decisions. In this course, we delve into the arguments supporting and challenging both hypotheses, and explore their socio-epistemological validity. We also dedicate a brief section of the course to analyzing computational models that bolster these hypotheses. Furthermore, we discuss the role of these arguments in political philosophy, drawing parallels with the notions of epistemic diversity and epistemic performance in philosophy of science.
The course aims at fostering discussion among students through activities and "games" during the lectures. You will be encouraged to write and discuss various aspects of the topic. The course will be conducted in English, and the reading list will be provided as the course progresses. No prior knowledge is required to enroll.
030091 Research Seminar on Contradictory Logics (Wansing)
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This seminar is related to the ERC-Advanced Grant project ConLog, Contradictory Logics: A Radical Challenge to Logical Orthodoxy, and contributes to the idea of research-based learning. The seminar is open to M.A. students with an interest in philosophical logic, the philosophy of logic, and the philosophies of language and of science.
In the 20th century, many systems of non-classical logic have been developed, including inconsistency-tolerant logics, which are typically all subsystems of classical logic. There are, however, logical systems that are radically different from classical logic insofar as they are non-trivial but contradictory. These logics are in glaring conflict with logical orthodoxy since Aristotle, who called the Principle of Non-Contradiction the firmest of all principles. Non-trivial contradictory logics not only permit inconsistencies in theories, but contain provable contradictions.
A prerequisite for a successful attendance in the seminar is some knowledge of non-classical logic and modal logic, including familiarity with Gentzen-style proof systems and Kripke models. We will discuss ongoing research into non-trivial contradictory logics and their applications in the philosophy of logic, and will read research papers, old and new, dealing with the notions of contradictoriness, consistency, negation, triviality, and related concepts. These papers may range from rather informal to formal studies. Students can earn credits by presenting a paper and will get detailed feedback. The seminar will continue to run over several semesters.
Students interested in experimental work on the endorsement or rejection of certain logical principles that play a crucial role in obtaining non-trivial negation-inconsistent logics are also very welcome.
030127 Interdisciplinary Reading Club: Recent Debates on Situated Cognition (Newen, Wolf)
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The colloquium is organized for PhD students and for advanced Master Students only who are already working on their Master thesis. We will offer regular presentations half from PhD-students from Bochum and half from external guests. The presentations will all be in the general domain of theoretical philosophy and cognitive sciences focusing on ‘Situated Cognition’. The presentations should ideally but not necessarily have some interdisciplinary dimension such that perspectives from philosophy, psychology, linguistics, and neurosciences can be systematically interconnected. The aim of the colloquium is to offer a platform for discussion of ongoing research in the RTG-group ‘Situated Cognition’ and further research projects on social understanding, the self, episodic memory, the perception-cognition divide.
PhD-students who are interested in presentations should write an email to both organizers (albert.newen@rub.de and Julia Wolf (julia.wolf-n8i@rub.de) and come to the first meeting. The program of the semester will be fixed then. PhD students can receive credit points for an active participation if they are part of the new PhD-program. Master students can receive standard CPs (ungraded certificate) for a presentation in the colloquium (in the case of an additional essay, Master students can receive standard CV and a graded certificate).
030095 Gödel: The Unprovability of the Consistency of Arithmetic (Übung) (Kürbis, Skurt)
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The Übung accompanying the lectures is an integral part of the course in which understanding of concepts introduced in the lectures is furthered through exercises, which also complete the discussion of the topics of the lectures. It is warmly recommended to students to attend both parts of the course.
030130 Colloquium on Ancient Philosophy (Sattler)
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Dieses Kolloquium ist für alle Studentinnen und Studenten gedacht, die an einer Abschlussarbeit oder einer größeren Arbeit sitzen, die entweder in den Bereich der antiken Philosophie fällt oder Bezüge zur antiken Philosophie aufweist. Es ist als freundliches Forum gedacht, wo diese Arbeiten vorgestellt werden können und lädt zudem Vortragende von auswärts ein. Das Kolloquium kann auch als Lesegruppe und Diskussionsforum für die Lektüre von neuerschienenen Texten zur antiken Philosophie dienen.