STARTPAGE
PEOPLE
MARIE CURIE ACTIONS
Marie Curie Career Integration Grants (CIG)
Call: FP7-PEOPLE-2011-CIG
PART B
PROPOSAL
“TMVP”
Table of Contents
Publishable summary (500 words)
The theme of the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant is to re-frame the discussion of social cognition: the study of our engagement with other people. My aim is to argue that the emphasis on attribution of beliefs and desires to others, the co-called ‘theory of mind’, is unlikely to be the holy grail of the study of social cognition. Social cognition is not a monolithic category and ‘theory of mind’ is only one, relatively complex form of making sense of others. It does not help us if we want to understand the origins (phylogenetic or ontogenetic), and some more rudimentary forms, of social cognition. I argue that empirical findings from developmental psychology and primatology point to a possible alternative, vicarious perception, which is a simple, perceptual (or quasi-perceptual) way of keeping track of what features of the other agent’s environment are relevant to her action.
I outlined a general theory of vicarious perception in my first monograph that was published in 2013 (Bence Nanay: Between Perception and Action, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013). It also plays an important role in the arguments of my second monograph, which is under contract with the same publisher.
I published 57 articles and book chapters and gave 56 conference talks and public lectures on themes related to the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant proposal. I also organized a number of events at the University of Antwerp where I hold this grant:
- An annual public lecture series, the Annual MarcJeannerodLecture Series, in memory of one of the pioneers of the study of social cognition, Marc Jeannerod, who, while a psychologist, had very strong philosophical interests.
- A bi-annual masterclass with a leading researchers in the topic of social cognition. The first event was with MichealBratman(Stanford University, USA). These masterclasses provide a great opportunity for young researchers (mainly on the post-doc level, but also in some cases for PhD students) to discuss the work of one of the experts in this field and also to present their own work and get feedback from this expert. These masterclasses are open to any early career researcher from Europe making it a nice example for the Marie Curie initiative…
- A number of conferences, workshops and public lectures connected to the themes of the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant, which brought altogether 137 speakers, from 23 countries and four continents to the University of Antwerp
Project objectives (500 words)
Basis for the review: the summery of project objectives as deffined in Annex I (description of work)
The ability to attribute mental states – beliefs, desires, etc – to others is universally taken to be the central concept in understanding social cognition. Some of the most influential questions in cognitive science are about this ability, which is usually referred to as ‘theory of mind’:
(i)Do non-human animals have ‘theory of mind’?
(ii)How does ‘theory of mind’ develop in ontogeny?
(iii)What mental processes make ‘theory of mind’ possible in humans?
My aim is to point out that the emphasis on ‘theory of mind’ is a methodological mistake. Social cognition is not a monolithic category and ‘theory of mind’ is only one, relatively complex form of making sense of others. It does not help us if we want to understand the origins (phylogenetic or ontogenetic), and some more rudimentary forms, of social cognition. I argue that empirical findings from developmental psychology and primatology point to a possible alternative, vicarious perception.
We very often experience objects as affording actions to us: we experience an apple as edible or as affording eating. Importantly, sometimes, we experience objects as affording actions not for ourselves, but for someone else. Sometimes we see an apple as edible not for myself but for you. This is the phenomenon I call ‘vicarious perception’. Vicarious perception is a simpler, and more basic, way of engaging with others cognitively than ‘theory of mind’.
I argue that while questions (i) – (iii) are difficult to tackle as long as they are about ‘theory of mind’, if we take them to be about vicarious perception, we get straightforward and nontrivial answers. More specifically, all experiments that are supposed to show that non-human primates have ‘theory of mind’ in fact demonstrate that they are capable of vicarious perception. The same goes for the experiments about the ‘theory of mind’ of less than 12 month old infants. If we shift the emphasis from ‘theory of mind’ to vicarious perception, we can make real advances in understanding the origins of social cognition.
Acheivements (2000 words)
Research progress
Research progressed as foreseen. I published my first book Between Perception and Action (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013), where I outline the account of vicarious perception at the greatest detail.
advancement beyond the state of the art
As outlined in the project proposal, the account of social cognition in terms of vicarious perception has various important ways of moving forward debates about social cognition – in philosophy, psychology, primatology, cognitive ethology. I was mainly focusing on the philosophical end of these debates and already there serious progress has been made in terms of moving beyond the state of the art in the following respects:
(a)in terms of moving beyond the binary opposition of simulation and theory-theory (as means of understanding others) by pointing out that there is a third alternative, namely, vicarious perception.
(b)in terms of understanding our most basic social emotions as variants on vicarious perception
(c)in terms of clarifying the theoretical framework researchers in ethology, primatoilogy, psychology and neuroscience use when talking about social cognition.
All of these are outlined in the book just published that I would be happy to send excerpts of (because of the significant size of the ‘Transfer of Knowledge’ section below, I can’t do this here because of the word limit).
impact
The impact of this new framework for thinking about social cognition is difficult to overstate. In my book, I outlined how this new way of framing the question has an immediate impact on debates in primatology (about whether chimpanzees are capable of social cognition and if so, of what kind), in cognitive ethology (about what mental processes we need to posit in order to explain some remarkably complex behavior in corvids), in developmental psychology (about the exact age at which (various versions of) social cognitive abilities appear) and experimental psychology (about the theoretical postulates for understanding joint action and the Social Simon Effect). Again, I would be happy to send excerpts of (because of the significant size of the ‘Transfer of Knowledge’ section below, I can’t do this here because of the word limit).
transfer of knowledge
The key elements in the transfer of knowledge are the following:
I established an annual lecture series, called the Annual MarcJeannerodLecture Series at the University of Antwerp, in memory of one of the pioneers of the study of social cognition, Marc Jeannerod, who, while a psychologist, had very strong philosophical interests. These lectures are given by philosophers who explicitly aim to bring in empirical results in their study of the mind in general and of social cognition in particular. After the tenure of the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant, I will continue to fund this Lecture Series from another grant.
Here are the first four Marc Jeannerod Lecturers (the fourth one will be funded by other grants as the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant will run out by then)
2012: Pierre Jacob (Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France) – Marc Jeannerod’s long-time collaborator
2013: Tyler Burge (University of California Los Angeles, USA)
2014: Catherine Wilson (University of York, UK)
2015: Ned Block (New York University, USA)
2016: Stephen Stich (Rutgers University, USA)
These lectures have been very well attended with the audience coming from all varieties of disciplines as well as from the general public.
***
The other key achievement was to establish a bi-yearly masterclass with some of the leading researchers in the topic of social cognition. The first event was with MichealBratman(Stanford University, USA) and the theme of the masterclass was Shared Agency, Joint Action and Social Cognition. These masterclasses provide a great opportunity for young researchers (mainly on the post-doc level, but also in some cases for PhD students) to discuss the work of one of the experts in this field and also to present their own work and get feedback from this expert. These masterclasses are open to any early career researcher from Europe (not only to people affiliated with the University of Antwerp). The next masterclass is still under negotiation, but the hope is that we can have either Michael Tomasello (Max Planck Institute, Leipzig, Germany) or Jose-Luis Bermudez (Texas A & M University, USA).
Speakers (all early career) at the first masterclass included:
Chiara Brozzo (University of Milan, Italy and University of Warwick, UK)
Olle Blomberg (University of Edinburgh, UK and University of Copenhagen, Denmark)
Nicolas Lindner (University of Dusseldorf, Germany)
Aurelien Darbellay, University of Barcelona, Spain)
Oier Imaz (Vrie Universiteit Brussel and UPV-EGU, Belgium)
Eylem Ozaltun (Harvard University, USA and Bilkent University, Turkey)
Siwing Tsoi (University of Texas Austin, USA)
Marko Meyer (University of Oxford, UK)
Marianna Ginocchietti (University of Trieste, Italy)
Tom Poljansek (University of Stuttgart)
***
I organized a number of workshops and conferences on various aspects of the theme of the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant. Here is the list of these events, with details about the speakers:
Workshop on Mind, Action and Responsibility: Empirical and non-empirical perspectives (co-organized with the Centre for Law and Cosmopolitan Values at the University of Antwerp)
Speakers:
PamelaHieronymi (University of California, Los Angeles, USA),
JoshuaKnobe (Yale University, USA),
BrianLeiter (University of Chicago, USA),
Thomas Pink (King’s College, London, UK),
JessePrinz (City University of New York, Graduate Centre),
GideonYaffe (University of Southern California and Yale University, USA)
Workshop on mental imagery and pretense
Speakers:
Gregory Currie (University of Nottingham and University of York, UK),
Amy Kind (Claremont McKenna College, USA),
SusannaSchellenberg (Rutgers University, USA),
Neil Van Leeuwen (Georgia State University, USA)
Conference on Olfaction
speakers:
Clare Batty (University of Kentucky, USA),
KatiFarkas(Central European University, Hungary),
BillLycan(University of North Carolina, USA),
Louise Richardson (University of York, UK),
David Rosenthal (City University of New York, Graduate Center),
Barry Smith (Birkbeck College, London and Institute of Philosophy, London),
Benjamin Young (BenGurion University of the Negev, Israel)
Workshop on Color and Content
Speakers:
Keith Allen (University of York, UK),
MazviitaChirimuuta(University of Pittsburgh, USA),
Will Davies (University of Antwerp, Belgium),
MarkKalderon(University College London, UK),
John Morrison (Columbia University, USA)
Philosophy of Perception and Aesthetics Conference,
speakers:
JeromeDokic (Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France),
Richard Gray (University of Cardiff, UK)
Jenny Judge (Cambridge University, UK and Rice University, USA)
JohnKulvicki (Dartmouth College, USA)
Clare Mac Cumhill (University of Geneva, Switzerland and University of Durham, UK)
Heather Logue (University of Leeds, UK)
MohanMatthen (University of Toronto, Canada)
AaronMeskin (University of Leeds, UK),
DianaRaffman (University of Toronto, Canada),
William Seeley (Bates College, USA)
Nico Sillins (Cornell University, USA and the National University of Singapore, Singapore)
AlbertoVoltolini (University of Turin, Italy)
Conference on perceptual attention
Speakers:
BeritBrogaard (University of Missouri, Saint Louis, USA) ,
John Campbell (University of California, Berkeley, USA),
David Chalmers (Australian National University, Australia and New York University, USA),
Tim Crane (Cambridge University, UK),
Carolyn Dicey Jennings (University of Antwerp, Belgium),
ImogenDickie (University of Toronto, Canada),
Katalin Farkas (Central European University, Hungary),
Christopher Mole (University of British Columbia, Canada),
Casey O’Callaghan (Rice University, USA),
ChristopherPeacocke (Columbia University, USA),
Ian Phillips (University College London and Oxford University, UK),
JessePrinz (City University of New York, Graduate Centre)
Susanna Siegel,(Harvard University)
Barry Smith,(Birkbeck College, London and Institute of Philosophy, London, UK)
JamesStazicker,(New York University, USA and University of Reading, UK)
MichaelTye,(University of Texas, Austin, USA)
SebastianWatzl,(Harvard University, USA and University of Oslo, Norway)
Wayne Wu,(Carnegie Mellon University, USA)
Workshop on ActionPhenomenology
speakers:
TimBayne(University of Manchester, UK),
Jacob Berger (University of Antwerp, Belgium),
ThorGrunbaum(Copenhagen, Denmark),
MyrtoMylopoulos(Fordham University, USA),
Hong Yu Wong (University of Tübingen, Germany)
Conference on therepresentationalismvs.relationalismdebate,
speakers:
Bill Brewer (King's College, London, UK),
Craig French (Cambridge University, UK),
Kathrin Gluer (University of Stockholm, Sweden),
Heather Logue (University of Leeds, UK),
M. G. F. Martin (University College London, UK and University of California Berkeley, USA),
Brian McLaughlin (Rutgers University, USA),
AdamPautz(University of Texas, Austin, USA),
SusannaSchellenberg(Rutgers University, USA),
MatthewSoteriou(University of Warwick, UK)
Conference on non-propositional representations
speakers:
Liz Camp (Rutgers University, USA),
Tim Crane (Cambridge University, UK),
Austin Clark (University of Connecticut, USA),
Dominic Gregory (University of Sheffield, UK),
JohnKulvicki(Dartmouth University, USA),
MohanMatthen(University of Toronto, Canada),
MichaelRescorla(University of California Santa Barbara, USA)
Workshop on the perception of time
Speakers:
ChristophHoerl(University of Warwick)
Geoffrey Lee (University of California, Berkeley)
L. A. Paul (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
Ian Phillips (Oxford University)
Nick Young (University of Antwerp)
Conference on intentions, distal and proximal
Speakers:
Al Mele (Florida State University)
Elisabeth Pacherie (Jean Nicod Institute, Paris)
Neil Sinhababu (University of Singapore)
Wayne Wu (Carnegie Mellon University)
Avery Archer (Tennessee)
Chiara Brozzo (Antwerp)
Silvia Felletti and Fabio Paglieri (Rome)
Jens Gillessen (Halle)
Frank Hindriks (Groningen)
Gregor Hochstetter (Tubingen)
Zachary Irving (Toronto)
Angelica Kaufmann (Antwerp)
Philippe Lusson (NYU)
Workshop on perceptual andnonperceptualphenomenology
Speakers:
LauraGow(University of Antwerp)
FaridMasrour(University of Wisconsin)
Michelle Montague (University of Texas at Austin)
DavidPapineau(King's College London and CUNY Graduate Center)
David Pitt (Cal State LA)
Workshop on the multimodality of perception
Speakers:
Robert Briscoe (Ohio University)
Frederique deVignemont(InstitutJeanNicod, Paris)
MohanMatthen(University of Toronto)
MatthewNudds(University of Warwick)
Workshop on recent work by Ned Block
Speakers:
Ned Block (NYU)
Tony Cheng (UCL)
SaschaFink (Osnabruck)
PeterFazekas(Aarhus)
JamesStazicker(Reading)
Neil VanLeeuwen(Georgia State/Antwerp)
Workshop on absence perception
Speakers:
RobertoCasati(InstitutJeanNicod)
DanCavedon-Taylor (University of Antwerp)
JeromeDokic(InstitutJeanNicod)
AnyaFarennikova(University of Bristol)
Roy Sorensen (WahingtonUniversity, St Louis)
Workshop on imagination and mental imagery
Speakers:
MargheritaArcangeli(InstitutJeanNicod, Paris)
Robert Hopkins (NYU)
Peter Langland-Hassan (University of Cincinnati)
Sam Liao (University of Leeds)
AlbertNewen(RuhrUniversitatBochum)
PaulNoordhof(University of York)
MargotStrohminger(University of Antwerp)
DanielaTagliafico(InstitutJeanNicod, Paris)
UkuTooming(University of Tartu)
Neil VanLeeuwen(Georgia State University and University of Antwerp)
Conference on Desire and Action
Speakers:
StephenButterfill(Warwick)
Agnes Moors (Leuven)
PeterRailton(Michigan
Tim Schroeder (Ohio State)
Joshua Shepard (Oxford)
NeilSinhababu(Singapore)
Workshop on Analog content and magnitudes.
Speakers:
ChristopherPeacocke(Columbia University)
Jacob Beck (York University)
Johanna Wolff (Hong Kong University)
Brian Ball (Oxford)
***
I also organized individual public lectures that were not part of workshops or conferences. Every semester had a loose theme (perception and action, animal cognition, social cognition, shared intentions, etc). Here is a list of some of the speakers - some psychologists, some primatologists, some philosophers:
JosefPerner (University of Salzburg, Austria)
Joelle Proust (Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France)
CorradoSinigaglia (University of Milan, Italy)
StephenButterfill (University of Warwick, UK)
DavidPapineau (King’s College London, UK and City University of New York Graduate Center, USA)
ElisabethPacherie (Institut Jean Nicod, Paris, France)
Juan-CarlosGómez (University of St Andrews, UK)
Alan Thomas (University of Tilburg, The Netherland)
Gabriel Greenberg (University of California, Los Angeles, USA)
Casey O’Callaghan (Rice University, USA)
Jerrold Levinson (University of Maryland, College Park, USA)
Catharine Abell (University of Manchester, UK)
ChristopherPeacocke(Columbia University, USA)
Rob Hopkins (University of Sheffield, UK and New York University, USA)
Dom Lopes (University of British Columbia, Canada)
AlvaNoë(City University of New York Graduate Centre and University of California, Berkeley, USA)
Jenefer Robinson (University of Cincinnati, USA)
AxelCleeremans(Brussels)
Julien Deonna (University of Geneva)
GalenStrawson(University of Texas at Austin)
Ian Philips (University of Oxford)
Jennifer Nagel (University of Toronto)
Ophelia Deroy (University of London)
Ned Block (New York University)
Altogether, we had 137 speakers, from 23 countries and four continents
Additional info (max 300 words)
N/A
Dissemination (max 800 words)
Publications
The following publications grew out of the project (some with stronger, some with weaker links to the topic of the Career Integration Grant:
The most important among these is my first monograph, which has one of its most important chapters on vicarious perception, the topic of the Marie Curie Career Integration Grant. The idea of vicarious perception is also much discussed in the monograph that is under contract with Oxford University Press:
Monographs:
Bence Nanay: Between Perception and Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013
Bence Nanay: Aesthetics as Philosophy of Perception. Oxford: Oxford University Press, under contract, to be published in 2016.
Journal articles and book chapters
Forthcoming
1. The role of imagination in decision-making. Mind & Language, forthcoming.