What do cognitive scientists explain when they explain a behaviour, and what would count as having explained it? How do computational, mechanistic, representational and dynamical accounts of the same phenomenon relate — do they compete, complement one another, or answer different questions? Where do the methods and models of empirical research come from, and how well do they fit what they are meant to describe? What, if anything, do artificial systems teach us about biological minds?

Questions of this kind keep coming up because there is no shortage of findings about the mind. What is scarce is a clear account of how they hang together, or whether they do. Modelling the Mind is a seminar series for working that out in the open, one talk at a time. The aim is to contribute to an empirically informed philosophical understanding of the mind and of the methods by which it is studied. 

Upcoming talks:

09/10/2026 - Silvano Zipoli Caiani (Università degli Studi di Firenze)

16/10/2026 - Matteo Colombo (Tilburg University)

12/11/2026 - Dimitri Coelho Mollo (Umeå University)

10/12/2026 - Beate Krickel (Technische Universität Berlin)

18/01/2027 - Nina Poth (Radboud University)

11/02/2027 - Andrew Richmond (University of Otago)

03/03/2027 - Gualtiero Piccinini (University of Missouri)

31/03/2027 - Grace Lindsay (New York University)

21/04/2027 - Mazviita Chirimuuta (University of Edinburgh)

07/05/2027 - Danielle Williams (New York University)

27/05/2027 - Alfredo Paternoster (Università di Bergamo)

Each session pairs a 45-minute talk with an extended discussion. Each talk of the seminar series is in hybrid form. Attendance is free, in person and remotely, and everyone is welcome at any career stage.

For info on abstracts, Zoom links, times of the talks (to be adjusted to your time zone) and to subscribe to the mailing list - if you want reminders and updates on the seminar series - visit our website at the link below.

https://modellingthemind.com