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ABSTRACT Individuals with episodic amnesia and deficits in episodic future projection are frequently described as trapped in an eternal present or bound to stimuli in the here and now. I argue that individuals with medial temporal lobe damage and deficits in these capacities nonetheless retain much of their orientation in time and much of their [...]
Find out moreABSTRACT Network models are increasingly used across the sciences to describe complex relations among a number of individual actors. Philosophers enamored of this modeling approach claim to find in it evidence for non-causal, distinctively mathematical, or non-decompositional explanations. Using examples from contemporary resting state fMRI research, I show that this philosophical work in general misunderstands [...]
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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION This workshop focused on an emerging research project in the cognitive neurosciences wherein the traditional scientific approach of using psychological investigations to enhance our understanding of the brain has been flipped, and instead scientists are using neuroscientific investigations to challenge and change the conceptual foundations of psychology. Specifically, it has become possible, using [...]
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CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION Computational Discovery, also called Experimental Mathematics, is the use of symbolic and numerical computation to discover patterns, to identify particular numbers and sequences, and to gather evidence in support of specific mathematical assertions that may themselves arise by computational means. In recent decades, computer-assisted mathematical discovery has profoundly transformed the strategies used to [...]
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PhilMiLCog is a three-day graduate conference with a broad and interdisciplinary scope. The conference, now in its 14th year, is recognized as one of the top philosophy graduate conferences in North America, synthesizing research from the Philosophy of Mind, Language, and Cognitive science, including psychology, linguistics, evolution, and computer science. PhilMiLCog provides an opportunity for [...]
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CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION Information-Theoretic Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics (#ITIQM) is a two day workshop taking place June 11-12, 2016 at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. This is the 20th annual UWO philosophy of physics conference. To view the conference program and additional resources, please visit the conference page. The workshop is inspired by Jeffrey Bub’s [...]
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ABSTRACT Last December, after twenty years of apparent incremental progress, over 190 countries meeting under the auspices of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change managed to create what promises to be a lasting international climate agreement. Debates continue however over whether the greenhouse gas mitigation commitments that parties brought to the table in [...]
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ABSTRACT If mental and physical are separate domains, “mental illness” should not involve the body. But bodily symptoms are common among people diagnosed with psychiatric disorders. Examples are altered perceptions of hot and cold, and hallucinations of touch. Overlooking the body may contribute to the stigma of psychiatric diagnosis. SPEAKER PROFILE Catherine Stinson is a [...]
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ABSTRACT The medical model of mental illness is often characterized as assuming that mental illness is a disorder of the brain. In contrast, the biopsychosocial model allows for the possibility that mental illness is caused by a combination of biological, psychological and environmental causes. Which model is superior for understanding, explaining and treating mental illness? [...]
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ABSTRACT Is increasing knowledge of how our brains cause behaviour undermining the very conception of freedom that moral and legal responsibilities presuppose? Is our sense of ourselves as persons under assault from science? Must we rethink criminal responsibility? I present contemporary philosophical views of free will and question how they square with neuroscience. SPEAKER PROFILE [...]
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ABSTRACT After a brief review of the history of affective neuroscience and the theoretical status of emotion in contemporary neuroscience, it will be argued that present day neuroscience suffers from a serious theoretical limitation that is largely due to its focus on short-term observation and reliance on laboratory measurement technologies that restrict it to the [...]
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WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION Psychiatry is increasingly being influenced by research in neuroscience and mainstream medicine. There is a push to reform psychiatry’s diagnostic categories to reflect increasing knowledge about the brain structures and neural mechanisms associated with psychopathology. Pharmaceutical treatments are quickly replacing talk therapies. Getting funding for psychiatric research increasingly requires a focus on cellular [...]
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ABSTRACT On the cusp of the robotics revolution we will now encounter robots in our day-to-day lives whether it's a robot to deliver our pizza or greet us in the shopping mall, or having a robot assist a surgeon perform a surgery. Not only will this powerful technology provide us with incredible benefits, relieving us [...]
Find out moreABSTRACT The 21st century is predicted to be the century of service robots. Service robots differ from factory robots in that they function in unstructured and unpredictable human environments and will even co-operate with humans. They can already be found in: neighbourhood stores for greeting us; hospitals to help with surgeries, rehabilitation, or for the [...]
Find out moreABSTRACT Robots are no longer fuel for the imagination of science fiction writers; they are now a part of our personal and professional lives and will become increasingly so in the years to come. They are already a part of surgical procedures and are delivering sheets and medications throughout the hospital. They are becoming a [...]
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Read the interview with Hanna Pickard conducted during her visit to the Rotman Institute. ABSTRACT The mainstream view of addiction is that it is a neurobiological disease of compulsion. Yet the evidence is overwhelming that addicts retain choice and a degree of control over drug consumption. This talk explores the power of the neurobiological myth [...]
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ABSTRACT In the decades following the forging of the so-called Neo-Darwinian Synthesis in the 1940s, a number of its philosophical defenders created a myth about what Charles Darwin was up against, a viewpoint called “typological essentialism” often attributed to Aristotle. In this paper I first sketch the history of how this myth was created. I [...]
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Cosmology and the Future of Spacetime is a three-day conference taking place June 12-14, 2017 at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. To view full details about the conference, please visit the conference page on the philosophy of cosmology website. CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION Even though general relativity has enjoyed profound success throughout the century since its [...]
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Join us on June 15-16, 2017 for the seventeenth annual Philosophy of Logic, Math and Physics (LMP) graduate student conference in philosophy at Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. The LMP Graduate Student Conference will bring together philosophers of logic, mathematics, and physics for two days of presentations and discussions with some of the leaders in these fields. We are [...]
Find out morePhilMiLCog is a three-day graduate conference with a broad and interdisciplinary scope. The conference, now in its 15th year, is recognized as one of the top philosophy graduate conferences in North America, synthesizing research from the Philosophy of Mind, Language, and Cognitive Science, including psychology, linguistics, evolution, and computer science. PhilMiLCog provides an opportunity for graduate students with common interests from [...]
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