Dear All I'm very pleased to say that we have two special talks by Professor Ruth Millikan, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories (MIT Press, 1984) and White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice (MIT Press, 1995) and On Clear and Confused Ideas.
The talks will be on December 8 and December 9 at 3.30 PM in the Departmental Common Room in The Main Building of the University of Sydney (Map) (with a back up if attendees are too numerous). There is no charge for the talks. The talk on 8 December is: How children learn language without having a theory of mind If we adopt a certain view of language understanding, and have a flexible enough view of the different ways in which one mind can take account of another, it becomes clear that a child can get exceedingly far in learning language without having any theories or thoughts about other people's minds. The radical part here is the proposed view of language understanding. Interpreting what you hear through the medium of speech sounds is in relevant ways just like interpreting what you see through the medium of the structured light that strikes your eyes. Understanding speech is a form of perception of the world, as direct as seeing. The talk on 9 December is: The tangle of biological purposes that is us From our genes to our public languages, a half dozen entwined levels of selection cooperate, but sometimes also conflict, each supporting a different level of purposes. Our own purposes, purposes of the individual, emerge from this tangle, sometimes triumphantly, sometimes conflictingly. Along the way the question how forward-looking goals emerge from natural selection is addressed, and also goals that do not aid survival. cheers d David Braddon-Mitchell, Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy, SOPHI Main Quad A 14 University of Sydney NSW 2006 fax +61 2 9351 6660 Time in Sydney, NSW: http://www.worldtimeserver.com/current_time_in_AU-NSW.aspx
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