Event Timeslots (1)

Thursday
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
Much classical work in philosophy of language uses an idealized model of communication (due to Grice, 1957) in which agents are fully cooperative, attentive, well-informed, verbally skilled, socially adept, cognitively flexible, and pragmatically competent. It is easy to see that this model grossly overestimates agents’ resources and abilities. This holds especially for communicative agents on the autism spectrum, who are often attributed “difficulties in understanding . . . irony and jokes, in adjusting their contribution . . . to conversational expectations, . . . to construct a coherent narrative discourse, and to detect and avoid faux-pas” (Kissine, 2012, p.1). This seminar investigates the possible sources of the communicative particularities of different neurodiverse populations (esp. individuals with ASD and AD(H)D) by studying state-of-the-art research at the interface of philosophy, psychology, and linguistics. Thus, the seminar aims to remove some Gricean idealizations and arrive at a more adequate model of communication that accommodates diverse verbal, behavioral, and cognitive profiles. Note: This seminar is associated with the RUB student initiative project Campus Neurodivers 1). Prerequisites: None. 1) https://initiativprojekte.blogs.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/Startseite/aktuelle-projekte/