The Kinds of Agency conference invites interdisciplinary exploration of the many forms and manifestations of agency. From intentional action and communication to moral responsibility, autonomy, and selfhood, agency is central to our understanding of human cognition and behavior. Yet it is increasingly clear that agency is not a singular phenomenon: it may be distributed, embodied, emergent, nonhuman, or collective. Our aim is to foster cross-disciplinary discussions on various types or kinds of agency that have intrigued philosophers, cognitive scientists, linguists, neuroscientists, and developmental, comparative, and evolutionary psychologists, among others.

Keynote Speaker:
Michael Bratman (Stanford University)
Atoosa Kasirzadeh (Carnegie Mellon University)

Programme:

Morning:

9:00-9:10: Opening Remarks
9:10-10:15: Keynote: Atoosa Kasirzadeh (Carnegie Mellon University) - Agency in the Age of Advanced Artificial Intelligence
10:20-10:50: Luca Bellini - On Expressive Agency
10:55-11:25: Michiel Esseling - The Irrationality Of Habitual Action Slips: An Anscombean Approach
11:30-12:00: Frederik Junker - Reasoning With Cognitive Maps
12:05-12:35: Calum Sims - Metacognitive Agency: A Novel Account of the Role of Metacognition in Flexible Behaviour
12:40-1:20: Lunch

Afternoon:

1:20-1:50: Mona Fazeli - Inferential Transitions: Agency Without Over-Intellectualization
1:55-2:25: Valena Reich - Agency without self-governance
2:30-3:00: Anita Watzel - The Pre-reflective Basis of Narrative Agency
3:05-3:35: Andrew Ma - Having the Courage of One’s Intentions
3:40-4:50: Keynote: Michael Bratman (Stanford) - Time, Sociality, Institutions: The Core Capacity Conjecture