Gilbert Ryle Lecture Series
New Frontiers in Social Cognition
2022 Ryle Lectures: October 12, 13, 14 from 4:00 pm-6:00 pm
Location: Trent University in the Student Centre Event Space (Peterborough Campus)
The Event Space opens at 4:00 pm, and each lecture begins promptly at 4:30 pm
Jennifer Nagel, University of Toronto
Jennifer Nagel has been Professor of Philosophy at the University of Toronto, specializing in epistemology and philosophy of cognitive science; she has also held visiting positions at Australian National University, the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Jerusalem, and All Souls College at the University of Oxford. She is the author of Knowledge: A Very Short Introduction, and dozens of articles and book chapters on contemporary and historical topics in philosophy.
Lecture titles:
1. Social cognition in nonhuman animals
2. Social cognition in artificial intelligence
3. Uniquely human social cognition?
Abstract:
Interaction with other agents calls for a special kind of intelligence: social cognition. This type of intelligence is found in many branches of the animal kingdom, although in humans it has a strikingly distinct form. Indeed, human social cognition has been described as the key feature distinguishing us from other animals. But if this is the feature that sets us apart, we may not be alone for long: recent years have seen sudden (and sometimes scary) gains in the social cognition of artificial intelligence. This series of lectures examines the human capacity for understanding other agents, both in contrast to the capacities of other animals, and in the light of new research in deep learning and social robotics.
The Gilbert Ryle Lecture Series was established by the Department of Philosophy at Trent University in 1977 in honour of the late Gilbert Ryle. This year’s lectures are supported by the Office of Provost & VP Academic, the Cultural Studies Department, Kenneth Mark Drain Chair in Ethics, Lady Eaton College, and by funds from members, alumni, and friends of the Department of Philosophy.
All members of the University and the general public are cordially invited to attend this free series of lectures.
For more information, please contact the Department of Philosophy at 705-748-1011 x7166 or philosophy@trentu.ca.
Past Gilbert Ryle Lecturers: 1976-present
- 2018-19: Luciano Floridi, Cut and Paste: Making Sense of our Digital Realities
- 2017-18: Jason Stanley, How Fascism Works
- 2016-17: Catherine Wilson, Life According to Nature
- 2015-16: Leo Groarke, Words, Pictures, Arguments: What Happens to Logic in an Age of Pictures?
- 2014-15: Richard Swinburne, God and Christian Morality
- 2013-14: Harry Brighouse, Justice and Educational Policy
- 2012-13: Claudia Card, Surviving Atrocities
- 2011-12: Sally Haslanger, Doing Justice to the Social
- 2010-11: Anthony Grayling, Forms of Liberty: The Evolution of an Idea and its Applications
- 2009-10: Paul Boghossian, Rules, Relativism and Reduction
- 2008-09: No Ryle lectures this year.
- 2007-08: Nancy Fraser, Abnormal Justice
- 2006-07: Simon Blackburn, Pragmatism, Minimalism, and Common-Sense
- 2005-06: Evelyn Fox Keller, Self-Organization" and the Problem of Life
- 2004-05: Alvin Plantinga, Christian Belief and Science: surface conflict, deep discord: Naturalism and Science: surface concord, deep conflict
- 2003-04: Iris Marion Young, Political Responsibility and Structural Injustice
- 2002-03: Drucilla Cornell, Whose Development?: Freedom,Equality, and Globalization
- 2001-02: Dennis Dutton, Art and Human Evolution
- 2000-01: G. A. Cohen, Rescuing Justice from Constructivism
- 1999-2000: Susan Haack, Defending Science - Within Reason
- 1998-99: Paul Churchland, New Light on Some Old Philosophical Problems: How Computational Neuroscience Illuminates Mind, Meaning, and Morals
- 1997-98: Thomas P. Kasulis, A Cultural Philosophy of Relationship—Intimacy vs. Integrity
- 1996-97: Kenneth Schmitz, The Recovery of Wonder - Unmakable Things and the New Freedom
- 1995-96: Francis Sparshott, The Future of Aesthetics
- 1994-95: Calvin O. Shrag, The Portrait of the Self—After Postmodernity
- 1993-94: No lecture this year.
- 1992-93: William Newton-Smith, The Nature of Rationality
- 1991-92: Jonathan Glover, Ethics: Lessons From the Nazi Period
- 1990-91: Alan Donagan, The Cartesian Myth Revisited (Cancelled)
- 1989-90: Martha Nussbaum, Aristotelian Politics—Human Functioning and Social Structure
- 1988-89: Daniel J. O’Connor, Time and Free Will
- 1987-88: Tom Regan, Individualism Reconsidered
- 1986-87: David Gallop, Reminations
- 1985-86: David Kaplan, Word and Belief
- 1984-85: Bernard Williams, Social Justice
- 1983-84: Errol Harris, Time and the World
- 1982-83: Donald Munro, Images of Human Nature
- 1981-82: Mary Midgley, Wickedness
- 1980-81: Richard Taylor, Directions of Moral Philosophy
- 1979-80: Robert Paul Wolff, The Language of Marxian Economics
- 1978-79: A. J. Ayer, Hume’s Philosophy Reappraised
- 1977-78: William Dray, Theories of History
- 1976-77: Master Anthony Kenny, Free Will and Responsibility