Beate Krickel: How to carve up the mind? On mechanistic explanation and cognitive ontology

The Research Seminar Series in Philosophy invites you to a seminar with Beate Krickel, TU Berlin & Uppsala. Title: "How to carve up the mind? – On the connection between mechanistic explanation and cognitive ontology".

Abstract: 

The discussion on cognitive ontology is about which cognitive capacities should be included in the ontology of cognitive science, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. One way to answer this question is to look at the neural mechanisms in our brains and argue that those cognitive capacities should be part of the cognitive ontology for which we find neural mechanisms. I will discuss this claim in the light of the so-called new mechanistic approach to scientific explanation. Following on from a recent argument by Francken, Slors and Craver, I will show that the strategy outlined above faces a challenge: mechanisms are identified relative to the phenomena being explained. Unlike Francken, Slors and Craver, I will show that the mechanistic strategy cannot be defended against this challenge - mechanisms cannot provide us with a cognitive ontology. Nevertheless, I will show how mechanisms play an important role in the discovery of cognitive ontology.

All interested are welcome to participate in this seminar.

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