Philosophy and Mathematics of Situated Agency

PHILOSOPHY AND MATHEMATICS OF SITUATED AGENCY

University of Oulu (Finland), June 5-8, 2023

https://www.situated-agency.eu/

Philosophy and Mathematics of Situated Agency brings together thinkers in cognitive science, philosophy of mind, mathematics, and robotics. The conference reaches towards understanding the meaning of being embedded and situatedness from an interdisciplinary standpoint.

Philosophy: The 4E approaches (embodied, embedded, enacted, or extended) to the mind refer to basic concepts like affordance and attunement. However, the conceptual and metaphysical foundations of these notions remain unclear. The meaning of the terms environment, context or situation, despite their pivotal position and inflationary use in the 4E explanatory framework, continue to be under-analyzed compared to the attention devoted to the other E notions. For example, how can natural settings be affording, involving and invitational? How is agency shaped by the situation and how does it contribute? How are contexts structured to separate the relevant from the irrelevant? This conference strives to address these topical questions.

Mathematics: Theoretical computer science and mathematical logic can be seen as foundational for classical cognitivism. What will be the mathematical foundation for Enactivism and Situated Cognition? This conference provides a platform for showcasing novel mathematical approaches to cognition within the 4E paradigm. In particular, instead of asking for cognitive explanations of mathematics, we seek mathematical models of cognition, specifically in the context of coupled agent-environment systems.

Robotics: Robotics broadly entails understanding the nature of the interaction between a robot and its environment. What kind of constraints does the robot-environment coupling impose in terms of information flow and relative complexities of action, sensing and task description? What are the relevant concepts and measurable quantities? Contributions from various fields of mathematics and computer science (theory of computation, dynamical systems, topology, geometry, discrete mathematics, etc.) are likely needed in the problem formulations and solutions.

We invite contributions that engage (invidually) with the following topics:

·   Philosophical analysis of embedded, enactive and extended mind

·   Philosophy of robot perception and sensorimotor interaction

·   Metaphysics of enactivist and ecological perception

·  Phenomenological approaches to situatedness, embodiment, and ecological perception / affordances / attunement

·   Cognitive models of situated and embodied agency

· Dynamical systems approaches to cognition, perception, embodiment, and agency (mathematics and/or philosophy)

· Minimal models of cognition, embodiment, sensorimotor contingencies, and ecological perception/affordances/attunement

· Relationships between (i) affordances and perception, (ii) neuroscience and enactivism

·   Mathematical models of affordances, situatedness, embodiment, and robot perception with an emphasis on embodiment

· Virtual reality: philosophical, mathematical, enactivist and ecological approaches

·   Affordances and attunement in virtual reality

The focus of the conference is promoting inter- and transdisciplinary viewpoints. However, individual talks can be confined to specific research areas. We hope that the conference sparks new interest in engaging across traditional disciplinary boundaries!

Confirmed Invited Speakers:

Antonio Bicchi

Inês Hipólito

Daniel D. Hutto

Julian Kiverstein

Steven M. LaValle

Call for Abstracts:

An extended abstract of approximately 250-500 words (excluding references) should be prepared for blind review and include a cover page with full name, affiliation, contact information and short professional bio.

Since graduate and postgraduates are encouraged to contribute, please indicate explicitly in which format your submission can be presented (talk and/or poster).

Please indicate the title of your abstract in the mail’s subject.

Please send your submission to: situated.agency @ gmail.com [Remove space]

EXTENDED Deadline for submission: April 10, 2023

Notification of acceptance: April 15, 2023

For further information, please feel free to contact us: situated.agency @ gmail.com [Remove space]

Conference Organizers

Kalle Timperi (University of Oulu)

Vadim Weinstein (University of Oulu)

Adrian Wieczorek (LMU Munich)