Reasoning, Rationality, and Know How
February 17th-20th 2004
| Since at least the time of Plato, thinkers have contemplated the nature and extent of human reason. Systematic attempts to empirically investigate human reasoning date at least to Wundt (1873-74) and James (1890). More recently, cognitive scientists have contributed theoretic and empirical insights into the origins, nature, biological basis, and most famously, the limitations of of human reasoning. The goal of this conference is to bring together individuals from the diverse areas of cognitive science who range from highly respected senior figures to young, promising researchers and graduate students in order to share perspectives on the current research into human reasoning and rationality as well as the direction of future research. Conference participants will discuss foundational issues such as the sources, nature, and scope of human rationality from empirical as well as philosophical perspectives as well as results regarding mechanisms underlying human reasoning, and the implications of such foundational and empirical insights into the nature of reasoning for such human endeavors as government, education, and medicine. |