Perception, Invariances and Core Knowledge

Peter Gärdenfors (Lund University)

The Senior Professorship for Theoretical Philosophy at Heinrich Heine University kindly invites you to attend the talk by Peter Gärdenfors within the Research Colloquium. The event will take place on Monday, 26 February 2024, from 16:30 to 18:00.

Peter Gärdenfors's talk will be available in a hybrid format: you can attend in person in Room 24.53 01.81 or join via Zoom. For the Zoom link, please email [email protected]. We look forward to your participation.

Abstract:   

From an empiricist and evolutionary standpoint, it is argued that the reduction of the complexity of sensory signals is based on the brain's capacity to identify various types of invariances that are evolutionarily relevant for the activities of the organism. The first aim of the talk is to explain why places, objects and actions are primary cognitive categories in our constructions of the external world. It is shown that the invariances that determine these categories have their separate characteristics and that they are, by and large, independent of each other. This separation is supported by what is known about the neural mechanisms. The second aim is to show that the category of events can be analyzed as being constituted of the primary categories. Some remarks on the invariances determining the number concept will also be made.