Workshop: Cognition in Social Contexts: Interdisciplinary Perspectives

Workshop Description:

In recent decades, many new research fields have emerged at the intersection of the social and cognitive sciences, such as cognitive sociology (e.g., Zerubavel, 1997), cognitive anthropology D’Andrade, 1992), cultural psychology (e.g., Shweder, 1991), and social neuroscience (Cacioppo & Berntson, 2002), to name a few. While researchers in these fields have sought to leverage insights from both branches of science to investigate human cognition in various societal contexts—social, cultural, political, historical, technological, and economic, they face significant conceptual, ontological, epistemological, and methodological challenges when conducting their investigations (see Ignatow, 2014; Kaidesoja et al., 2019; Strydom, 2007; Turner, 2018 for instance).

This one-day workshop focuses on philosophical issues that arise at the intersection of the E-cognitive sciences (E—embodied, enactive, extended, embedded, ecological, evolutionary, etc.), and the social sciences. For instance, how do researchers at this intersection conceptualize and model the relationship between mind, brain, body, and society? What approaches do they adopt to reconcile and/or use dissimilar theories, concepts, and explanations from different research programs? How do researchers identify scientific objects, levels of analysis, and research methods for investigating the phenomena of their interest? In what ways does their interdisciplinary work contribute to the scientific understanding of human cognition and behavior? What are the implications of their work for traditional philosophical questions about the mind, self, agency, and society?

This workshop aims to:

1. Explore interdisciplinary approaches to studying human cognition in society and identify points of convergence and divergence;
2. Gauge the contribution of these approaches to the advancement of scientific understanding of the mind;
3. Foster interdisciplinary conversations between E-cognitive scientists, social scientists, and philosophers
4. Explore opportunities for potential collaboration between different research groups, and
5. Explore the role that institutions play in fostering interdisciplinary collaboration and scientific progress.

Submission Guidelines:

We invite submissions from scholars at all career stages but specifically encourage advanced PhD students and early career scholars to submit their work. Please submit an abstract of between 600-1,000 words (excluding references) suitable for either a 7-minute lightning talk or a 20-minute presentation followed by Q&A. Abstracts should be prepared for blind review and should make clear the topic and main arguments of the paper. Abstract submissions must be made through EasyChair. Please visit https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=csc2025 to upload your abstract before the submission deadline (January 17, 2025). Notification of acceptance will be sent out by February 17, 2025. All accepted abstracts will be made available publicly on the workshop's webpage.

Workshop Themes and Questions:

We invite submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following themes and questions:

• nE approaches to social cognition
• Cognitive social science
• Social ontology
• Social agency and collective action
• Scientific practices

How do researchers from the E-cognitive sciences (ECS), such as those working in ecological psychology, enactivism, and phenomenology, conceptualize the relationship between mind and society?

What role does the environment—ecological, social, cultural, political, historical, technological, and economic—play in shaping human social interactions and cognition?

What constraints, if any, enable and limit interdisciplinary work, conversations, and collaborations?

Keynote Speaker:

Our keynote speaker for the event is Stephen Turner, a Distinguished University Professor at the University of South Florida. Prof. Turner has published numerous works on the workshop's topic, including Cognitive Science and the Social: A Primer and Understanding the Tacit.

Venue:

The conference will be held in person at Western University, London ON on May 1, 2025.

Western Interdisciplinary Research Building, Western University (The University of Western Ontario)

London, Ontario, Canada N6A 5B7

Organizing Committee:

• Michael L. Anderson
• Scott Schaffer
• Varun Ravikumar
• Priscila Ribeiro Prado Barros
• Eysan Demirkaya

For any inquiries, please contact Prof. Michael L. Anderson [[email protected]] or Varun Ravikumar [[email protected]]. Further details are available on the workshop’s webpage.

Financial and Travel Information:

There are no registration fees for the workshop. Unfortunately, we cannot provide funding for transportation or accommodation for selected workshop participants. We encourage participants to explore financial support options through their home institutions. For applicants from countries requiring a Canadian travel visa, please review the visa appointment and processing times at your local Canadian embassy before you apply. Successful applicants will receive an invitation letter to support their visa application.

Sponsors:

This workshop has been organized by the Think Tank project "Ecological Psychology in Society" supported by the Rotman Institute of Philosophy's Interdisciplinary Think Tank Award Program.