The Society of Philosophers in America
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SOPHIA Symposium: |
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The Potomac Institute for Policy Studies Program organizer: Dr. John Shook, jshook@pragmatism.org The classical pragmatists Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, John Dewey, and George Herbert Mead were all interested in and contributed to the sciences of mind and brain. While mid-twentieth century Anglo-American philosophy turned away from pragmatism, the consequences of the contributions of these classical pragmatists continued forth in the social and life sciences. Since active and practicing scientists are less concerned with the history and philosophy of their field (and especially the history of the philosophy of their special discipline), it comes as no surprise that many cognitive neuroscientists are unaware of the contributions of pragmatism. Unfortunately, with the reemergence of pragmatism, there has been a near total neglect of the value of scientific method and scientific data in both the scholarship on pragmatism and the actively pragmatic inquiries of contemporary pragmatists. This conference brought together the few and growing voices of pragmatist philosophers interested in neuroscience and neuroscientists interested in pragmatism. The need for such a meeting cannot be overstated as the developments in cognitive neuroscience are not only escalating but are presenting new perspectives on old philosophical and ethical problems as well as raising new ones. While the classical pragmatists have surely developed tools integral for dealing with these questions, such tools cannot be well utilized without adequate neuroscientific knowledge. This meeting involved presentations by the speakers listed below, followed by an extended conversational session, following SOPHIA’s style and goals.
Jay Schulkin
About Speakers: Jay Schulkin is trained in both philosophy and neuroscience. He has written extensively in both, explicitly from a pragmatist perspective. His several books aim to elaborate upon the insights of classical pragmatism through recent neuroscientific research. He is research professor in the department of physiology and biophysics at Georgetown University. Email: jschulkin@acog.org Teed Rockwell is an interdisciplinary trained philosopher who has brought Dewey’s thought to recent discussions in neurophilosophy, particularly with regard to the interest over dynamic systems theory. He is an instructor in the department of philosophy at Sonoma State University. Email: mcmf@california.com William Casebeer is a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. He earned his PhD in philosophy with a strong interdisciplinary emphasis on cognitive science. His research focuses on the intersection of neuroscience and ethics and draws on the work of John Dewey. Email: drenbill@gmail.com David D. Franks is a sociologist who has brought sociology and neuroscience together through the work of George Herbert Mead. This intersection he calls neurosociology, which is the title of his book length treatment on the issue. He is a professor in the department of sociology and anthropology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Email: dfranks@saturn.vcu.edu Anthony Chemero is a cognitive scientist and philosopher, who has taken the radical empiricism of James as his neurophilosophical starting point in arguing for an ecological approach to understanding the body-mind. He is an associate professor in the scientific and philosophical studies of mind program of the psychology department at Franklin and Marshall College. Email: tony.chemero@fandm.edu John Shook is a philosopher and scholar on pragmatism, who is focusing on pragmatism’s capacity to enrich scientific naturalism in general and neurophilosophy in particular. He is a visiting professor for the University at Buffalo’s Science and the Public Program and a Fellow of the Institute for Public Policy at George Mason University. Email: jshook@pragmatism.org Tibor Solymosi is a doctoral candidate in the department of philosophy at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. He runs the website neuropragmatism.com, having coined the term “neuropragmatism,” and he is writing on the intersections of evolutionary science, neuroscience, and pragmatist philosophy. Email: tibor@siu.edu
We are grateful for the generous support of the American Philosophical Association for putting on this event.
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ALSO NEW: A video of the event is available for viewing here