Structural Realism Meets Structural Representation

The symposium addresses the structuralist interface between philosophy of physics and philosophy of mind. Structuralists in philosophy of physics argue in favor of a structuralist ontology of the world. The central idea is to replace an ontology of objects with intrinsic natures by a structural realist (SR) ontology where things are reconceptualized as nodes in a web of relations. Structuralists in philosophy of mind and cognition, on the other hand, argue that, because of the peculiar computational nature of the mind, mental representations are structural (and connect to the world via homomorphisms only). Possible links between both types of "structuralism" are, however, rarely discussed. The workshop should scrutinize points of contact between both doctrines as well as obstacles.