[SydPhil] *Registration Reminder* - Cognition in Context (CiC), seminar series 2014- Dual Inheritance Models of Cultural Transmission - Kim Sterelny and Peter Godfrey Smith at Macquarie University - March 19th 2014

[Mirko Farina]

*Announcement*: Cognition in Context (CiC) 2014 Seminar Series -

'*Dual Inheritance Models of Cultural Transmission'*-

Workshop with Distinguished Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith (CUNY) and
Professor Kim Sterelny (ANU) at Macquarie University (March 19th, 2014).



(Usual apologies for cross-posting this message)

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**REGISTRATION REMINDER**


 To register attendance (if you haven't done so) please email Mirko Farina (
farinamirko at gmail.com) no later than *tomorrow* - Tuesday, March 4th, 2014

Thanks


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Dear all,


On March 19th, 2014 Distinguished Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith (Department
of Philosophy, City University New York) and Professor Kim Sterelny
(Department of Philosophy, ANU) will visit the Department of Cognitive
Science and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders
(CCD) at Macquarie University. Distinguished Professor Peter Godfrey-Smith (
http://petergodfreysmith.com/) and Professor Kim Sterelny (
https://researchers.anu.edu.au/researchers/sterelny-k) are two prominent
philosophers of biology and cognition. Their expertise spans a wide range
of areas, including but not limited to the following: 1) philosophy of mind
and cognition; 2) philosophy of biology; 3) philosophy of science and
philosophy of language; 4) evolutionary biology and Darwinism; 5)
pragmatism; 6) archaeology and palaecology; 7) evolutionary psychology.



On Wednesday March 19th, 2014 (from *2:00 PM until 5:00 PM*, *Room 3.610,
Level 3, Australian Hearing Hub, 16 University Avenue, Macquarie
University, NSW 2109*), we will meet to discuss the contributions of
dual-inheritance theories proposed by Peter Godfrey-Smith (2009, 2012,
2013) and Kim Sterelny (2012) to the understanding of cognitive and
contextual processing. The meeting will explore the implications of such
models of cultural transmission and analyse their relevance for explaining
cultural behaviours and the evolution of human cognition. Questions of
interest include, but are not limited to: What is a Darwinian individual?
What are the distinct types of explanation associated with Darwinian
population thinking? How do cooperation and environmental scaffolding
support or expand our cognitive abilities? What is the role of
cross-generational information pooling in the development of human
cognition? What are the explanatory tools that dual-inheritance models
provide to the science of art and artefact categorisation?



If you are interested in attending the workshop or contributing to the
workshop discussion (which will take place after the talks, between 4PM and
5PM), please send an email (if you haven't done so already) to Mirko Farina
(farinamirko at gmail.com) at your earliest convenience and *no later than
March 4th, 2014*. Mirko will add you to the mailing list associated with
this event. *Attendance is free but* *registration is kindly requested.* We
will circulate to the list a few companion papers written by Profs
Godfrey-Smith and Sterelny, which will form the basis for the discussions
that we plan to have during and after the workshop.





Abstract of the talks (in alphabetical order) available below:



*Title*: 'Centralized and Distributed Selection Processes in Biological and
Cultural Evolution'

*Speaker*: *Peter Godfrey-Smith* (CUNY)
*Date and Time*: Wednesday, 19 March 2014, 2:00PM until 3PM

*Location*: Australian Hearing Hub (AHH), room 3.610, Macquarie Universit*y*




*Abstract *A general distinction can be made between more centralized and
more distributed selection processes. This distinction will be explored
first with the aid of biological cases, drawing on new work we have carried
out with Josh Dahm, Ben Kerr, and other researchers in Kerr's lab. This
distinction will then be applied to cultural evolution, where it connects
to questions about innovation, hierarchy, conformism, and other topics.



*Title*: 'Neolithisation in southwest Asia in a context of niche
construction'

*Speakers*: *Kim Sterelny* (ANU), *Trevor Watkins* (University of Edinburgh)

*Date and time*: Wednesday, 19 March 2014, 3:00PM until 4:00PM

*Location*: Australian Hearing Hub (AHH), room 3.610, Macquarie University



*Abstract*

The term 'neolithisation' as it is generally used in relation to southwest
Asia narrows the focus of research, and works against our efforts to
envision explanations of the process in terms of the long-term evolution of
human societies. Here, we re-frame the neolithisation process, setting it
within the framework of niche construction theory. We argue that the
concept of cultural niche construction fits the purpose, but needs to be
extended to encompass the more complex social worlds of the Holocene in the
form of the cognitive-cultural niche





Best Regards

Mirko Farina and Nicolas Bullot

Convenors of the Cognition in Context Seminar Series
-- 
Mirko Farina
http://mirkofarina.weebly.com/index.html

PhD Candidate
Department of Cognitive Science
ARC Centre of Excellence in Cognition and its Disorders (CCD)
Australian Hearing Hub
16 University Avenue
Macquarie University, NSW 2109 AUSTRALIA
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