UE595 - Psychological Capacities
Lieu et planning
-
Institut Jean-Nicod
29 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris
Salle Ribot
2nd semestre / hebdomadaire, mardi 14:00-16:00
du 3 février 2026 au 2 juin 2026
Nombre de séances : 13
Description
Dernière modification : 7 mai 2025 10:50:27
- Type d'UE
- Séminaires DE/MC
- Disciplines
- Philosophie et épistémologie, Psychologie et sciences cognitives
- Page web
- -
- Langues
- anglais
- L’enseignement est uniquement dispensé dans cette langue.
- Mots-clés
- Philosophie Sciences cognitives
- Aires culturelles
- -
Intervenant·e·s
- Margherita Arcangeli [référent·e] maîtresse de conférences, EHESS / Institut Jean-Nicod (IJN)
- Jérôme Dokic directeur d'études, EHESS / Institut Jean-Nicod (IJN)
In this course (taught entirely in English) we will engage with a series of current debates in the philosophy of psychology. We will ask how recent findings in the cognitive sciences bear on traditional philosophical questions concerning psychological capacities such as emotion, perception, memory, imagination and high level cognition.
The aim of this class is to look at the intersection between traditional themes in philosophy and the research in cognitive science. First, we shall explore how emotions differ both from perception and from evaluative judgment. To do so, we will analyze the relationship with the body as well as with rationality. We shall conclude by looking at two case studies, fear and pain. Second, we shall explore phenomena concerning, or being at the interface between, perception, imagination, and memory. The latter are mental phenomena that involve sensory or quasi-sensory experiences. They seem to share core features but at the same time to differ from each other in important respects. Does perception essentially involve imagination? How is hallucinating a scene different from imagining it? A well-represented hypothesis in the philosophical and psychological literature portrays memory as nothing more than a specific use of the imagination. What is the relationship between remembering the past and projecting oneself into one's personal future? How is confabulating a past scene different from imagining it? We aim at clarifying these questions and emphasizing the differences (ontological, epistemological, and phenomenological) between perception, memory, and imagination. Third, we shall consider what the evidence from cognitive science can tell us about high-level cognition. Starting from the cognitive revolution of the 1950s, thinking is best understood in terms of representational structures in the mind and computational procedures that operate on those structures. However, many questions remain open. What is conceptual knowledge, how does it differentiate from perception and how do we access it? Can an AI think or do mathematics? Should the mind be extended to comprehend external structures? We shall tackle these theoretical questions by looking at the scientific literature and discussing its philosophical implications.
Le programme détaillé n'est pas disponible.
Master
-
Séminaires de recherche
– Philosophie - Philosophie du langage et de l'esprit
– M1/S2-M2/S4
Suivi et validation – semestriel hebdomadaire = 6 ECTS
MCC – fiche de lecture -
Séminaires de recherche
– Sciences cognitives
– M1/S2-M2/S4
Suivi et validation – semestriel hebdomadaire = 6 ECTS
MCC – fiche de lecture
Renseignements
- Contacts additionnels
- -
- Informations pratiques
contacter les enseignantes par courriel.
- Direction de travaux des étudiants
contacter les enseignantes par courriel.
- Réception des candidats
contacter les enseignantes par courriel.
- Pré-requis
Introductory class in philosophy of mind or philosophy of cognitive science
Dernière modification : 7 mai 2025 10:50:27
- Type d'UE
- Séminaires DE/MC
- Disciplines
- Philosophie et épistémologie, Psychologie et sciences cognitives
- Page web
- -
- Langues
- anglais
- L’enseignement est uniquement dispensé dans cette langue.
- Mots-clés
- Philosophie Sciences cognitives
- Aires culturelles
- -
Intervenant·e·s
- Margherita Arcangeli [référent·e] maîtresse de conférences, EHESS / Institut Jean-Nicod (IJN)
- Jérôme Dokic directeur d'études, EHESS / Institut Jean-Nicod (IJN)
In this course (taught entirely in English) we will engage with a series of current debates in the philosophy of psychology. We will ask how recent findings in the cognitive sciences bear on traditional philosophical questions concerning psychological capacities such as emotion, perception, memory, imagination and high level cognition.
The aim of this class is to look at the intersection between traditional themes in philosophy and the research in cognitive science. First, we shall explore how emotions differ both from perception and from evaluative judgment. To do so, we will analyze the relationship with the body as well as with rationality. We shall conclude by looking at two case studies, fear and pain. Second, we shall explore phenomena concerning, or being at the interface between, perception, imagination, and memory. The latter are mental phenomena that involve sensory or quasi-sensory experiences. They seem to share core features but at the same time to differ from each other in important respects. Does perception essentially involve imagination? How is hallucinating a scene different from imagining it? A well-represented hypothesis in the philosophical and psychological literature portrays memory as nothing more than a specific use of the imagination. What is the relationship between remembering the past and projecting oneself into one's personal future? How is confabulating a past scene different from imagining it? We aim at clarifying these questions and emphasizing the differences (ontological, epistemological, and phenomenological) between perception, memory, and imagination. Third, we shall consider what the evidence from cognitive science can tell us about high-level cognition. Starting from the cognitive revolution of the 1950s, thinking is best understood in terms of representational structures in the mind and computational procedures that operate on those structures. However, many questions remain open. What is conceptual knowledge, how does it differentiate from perception and how do we access it? Can an AI think or do mathematics? Should the mind be extended to comprehend external structures? We shall tackle these theoretical questions by looking at the scientific literature and discussing its philosophical implications.
Le programme détaillé n'est pas disponible.
-
Séminaires de recherche
– Philosophie - Philosophie du langage et de l'esprit
– M1/S2-M2/S4
Suivi et validation – semestriel hebdomadaire = 6 ECTS
MCC – fiche de lecture -
Séminaires de recherche
– Sciences cognitives
– M1/S2-M2/S4
Suivi et validation – semestriel hebdomadaire = 6 ECTS
MCC – fiche de lecture
- Contacts additionnels
- -
- Informations pratiques
contacter les enseignantes par courriel.
- Direction de travaux des étudiants
contacter les enseignantes par courriel.
- Réception des candidats
contacter les enseignantes par courriel.
- Pré-requis
Introductory class in philosophy of mind or philosophy of cognitive science
-
Institut Jean-Nicod
29 rue d'Ulm 75005 Paris
Salle Ribot
2nd semestre / hebdomadaire, mardi 14:00-16:00
du 3 février 2026 au 2 juin 2026
Nombre de séances : 13
