Space in Mind: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives

Here is our full list of speakers: Sara Aronowitz, Richard Arthur, Katherine Dunlop, Alexandre Duval, Gary Hatfield, Alistair Isaac, Alex Klein, Mohan Matthen, Tyke Nunez, Michael Rescorla, Lisa Shabel, and Elizabeth Spelke.

The human ability to perceive spatial properties and think about space has been at the center of philosophical inquiry for more than 2000 years. It plays a pivotal role in the arguments of numerous influential figures, including Plato, Descartes, Berkeley, Kant, Helmholtz, James, and Russell. However, the interest in this topic has waned substantially in contemporary philosophy. Philosophers of psychology and cognitive scientists now do their work largely independently from historical scholarship on these important figures. To bridge this gap, the Bertrand Russell Research Centre at McMaster University is organizing a workshop entitled "Space in Mind: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives". The goal of the workshop is to bring about a dialogue between researchers interested in historical scholarship and those directly involved in contemporary debates, and to highlight insights of historical philosophers that can help us make progress on contemporary issues.