Complexity, Social Cognition, and Social Explanation

We are glad to announce the upcoming Workshop on Complexity, Social Cognition, and Social Explanation, which will take place at the University of Cincinnati, February 22nd and 23rd, 2020. We will have the pleasure of having Sally Haslanger (MIT), Gaile Pohlhaus (Miami U), and Deborah Tollefsen (U of Memphis) as our invited speakers. The workshop will include talks by resident scholars and graduate students, but four spots are reserved for external contributors. 

The workshop is free and open to the public; however, participants are expected to read the papers in advance and to come prepared for discussions. 

Papers (up to 6000 words) are due on January 22nd, 2020. We intend to notify submitters of our decision by Febuary 1st. 

Please send submissions with your name, affiliation, and contact information, and a short abstract in MS Word or PDF form, to Sahar Heydari Fard at [email protected] with ‘Complexity 2020 Workshop’ in the subject field. 

The workshop will examine the implications of endorsing complexity theory, especially in the philosophical debates around social cognition and social explanation. Complexity theory is broadly conceived to include explanatory frameworks that attempt to reconcile the unpredictable and dynamic nature of highly complex systems, like society, with a sense of underlying structure and order. The workshop will bring together scholars working on projects related to the epistemic, cognitive, and explanatory aspects of conceptual frameworks that aim to guide our moral responses to complex social problems and lead to social change.