Connectionists: Interactivist Summer Institute 2007

[Mark H. Bickhard]

The web site for the Interactivist Summer Institute 2007, to be held 
May 26-29, 2007, in Paris, France, is now open:

http://www.lehigh.edu/~interact/isi2007/index.htm

GENERAL INFORMATION

Interactivist Summer Institute 2007
May 26-29, 2007
  American University
  Paris, France

Join us in exploring the frontiers of understanding of life, mind, and 
cognition. There is a growing recognition - across many disciplines - 
that phenomena of life and mind, including cognition and 
representation, are emergents of far-from-equilibrium, interactive, 
autonomous systems. Mind and biology, mind and agent, are being 
re-united. The classical treatment of cognition and representation 
within a formalist framework of encodingist assumptions is widely 
recognized as a fruitless maze of blind alleys. From neurobiology to 
robotics, from cognitive science to philosophy of mind and language, 
dynamic and interactive alternatives are being explored. Dynamic 
systems approaches and autonomous agent research join in the effort.

The interactivist model offers a theoretical approach to matters of 
life and mind, ranging from evolutionary- and neuro-biology (including 
the emergence of biological function) through representation, 
perception, motivation, memory, learning and development, emotions, 
consciousness, language, rationality, sociality, personality and 
psychopathology. This work has developed interfaces with studies of 
central nervous system functioning, the ontology of process, autonomous 
agents, philosophy of science, and all areas of psychology, philosophy, 
and cognitive science that address the person.

The conference will involve both tutorials addressing central parts and 
aspects of the interactive model, and papers addressing current work of 
relevance to this general approach. We will also have a special theme 
afternoon focusing on Value Systems and the Development of Higher Order 
Motivation. This will be our fourth Summer Institute; the first was in 
2001 at Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA, the second in 2003 in 
Copenhagen, Denmark, and the third in 2005 at Clemson University, South 
Carolina, USA. The Summer Institute is a biennial meeting where those 
sharing the core ideas of interactivism will meet and discuss their 
work, try to reconstruct its historical roots, put forward current 
research in different fields that fits the interactivist framework, and 
define research topics for prospective graduate students. People 
working in philosophy of mind, linguistics, social sciences, artificial 
intelligence, cognitive robotics, theoretical biology, and other fields 
related to the sciences of mind are invited to send their paper 
submission or statement of interest for participation to the 
organizers.

Mark H. Bickhard
Lehigh University
17 Memorial Drive East
Bethlehem, PA 18015
mark at bickhard.name
http://bickhard.ws/