THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY FORUM
Institute of Philosophy
Faculty of Humanities, Eotvos University
Room 208 Monday 4:00 PM Puskin u. 3, Budapest
Web site: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf
Change of program:
Due to other obligations, Hajnal Andreka and Istvan Nemeti had to cancel
their seminar talk originally scheduled for 21 May. Their lecture is
postponed to June 4th, and Peter Fazekas' lecture will be held on 21 May:
21 May 4:00 PM Room 208 (Puskin u. 3)
Peter Fazekas
Department of Philosophy, King's College London
Department of Philosophy and History of Science, BUTE
The physical story behind Phenomenal Concept Strategy
Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf/2007/May/#3
Laszlo E. Szabo
the organizer of the Forum
(leszabo(a)philosophy.elte.hu)
--
L a s z l o E. S z a b o
Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos University, Budapest
http://philosophy.elte.hu/leszabo
Dear Dr. Qwerty,
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* Please respond to this Call no later than May 17, 2007
NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary journal
providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the
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** Target Article Information **
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To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for this article, an
unedited, uncorrected target article is retrievable at the URL that follows the abstract and
keywords below. This unedited draft has been prepared only for potential commentators who wish
to nominate themselves for formal commentary invitation. Please DO NOT write a commentary
until you receive a formal invitation. If you are invited to submit a commentary, a
copyedited, corrected version of this paper will be posted in the invitation letter. The
commentary invitation list is compiled by the Editors so as to balance proposals, areas of
expertise, and frequency of prior commentaries in BBS.
TITLE: Animal innovation defined and operationalized
AUTHOR: Grant Ramsey, Meredith L. Bastian, and Carel van Schaik
ABSTRACT: Innovation is a key component of most definitions of culture and intelligence.
Additionally, innovations may affect a species ecology and evolution. Nonetheless,
conceptual and empirical work on innovation has only recently begun. In particular, largely
because the existing operational definition (first occurrence in a population) requires
long-term studies of populations, there has been no systematic study of innovation in wild
animals. To facilitate such study, we have produced a new definition of innovation:
Innovation is the process generates in an individual a novel learned behavior that is not
simply a consequence of social learning or environmental induction. Using this definition, we
propose a new operational approach for distinguishing innovations in the field. The
operational criteria employ information from the following sources: (1) the behaviors
geographic and local prevalence and individual frequency; (2) properties of the behavior,
such as the social role of the behavior, the context in which the behavior is exhibited, and
its similarity to other behaviors; (3) changes in the occurrence of the behavior over time;
and (4) knowledge of spontaneous or experimentally induced behavior in captivity. These
criteria do not require long-term studies at a single site, but information from multiple
populations of a species will generally be needed. These criteria are systematized into a
dichotomous key that can be used to assess whether a behavior observed in the field is likely
to be an innovation.
KEYWORDS: behavior, culture, improvisation, innovation, invention, operational definition,
social learning.
FULL TEXT: http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Ramsey-08242006/Referees/
==================================================================
*** CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS ***
==================================================================
Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for
commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new
Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL:
http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Ramsey-0824…
* If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to
submit a proposal with expertise information.
* If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org.
* Please respond to this Call no later than May 17, 2007
NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary journal
providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the
biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS Associates, or suggested by a
BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please follow the instructions linked below:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html
==================================================================
==================================================================
Paul Bloom - Editor
Barbara Finlay - Editor
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
bbs(a)bbsonline.org
http://www.bbsonline.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
==================================================================
*** CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS ***
==================================================================
Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for
commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new
Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL:
http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Ramsey-0824…
* If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to
submit a proposal with expertise information.
* If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org.
* Please respond to this Call no later than May 17, 2007
NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary journal
providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the
biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS Associates, or suggested by a
BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please follow the instructions linked below:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html
==================================================================
** Target Article Information **
==================================================================
To help you decide whether you would be an appropriate commentator for this article, an
unedited, uncorrected target article is retrievable at the URL that follows the abstract and
keywords below. This unedited draft has been prepared only for potential commentators who wish
to nominate themselves for formal commentary invitation. Please DO NOT write a commentary
until you receive a formal invitation. If you are invited to submit a commentary, a
copyedited, corrected version of this paper will be posted in the invitation letter. The
commentary invitation list is compiled by the Editors so as to balance proposals, areas of
expertise, and frequency of prior commentaries in BBS.
TITLE: Animal innovation defined and operationalized
AUTHOR: Grant Ramsey, Meredith L. Bastian, and Carel van Schaik
ABSTRACT: Innovation is a key component of most definitions of culture and intelligence.
Additionally, innovations may affect a species ecology and evolution. Nonetheless,
conceptual and empirical work on innovation has only recently begun. In particular, largely
because the existing operational definition (first occurrence in a population) requires
long-term studies of populations, there has been no systematic study of innovation in wild
animals. To facilitate such study, we have produced a new definition of innovation:
Innovation is the process generates in an individual a novel learned behavior that is not
simply a consequence of social learning or environmental induction. Using this definition, we
propose a new operational approach for distinguishing innovations in the field. The
operational criteria employ information from the following sources: (1) the behaviors
geographic and local prevalence and individual frequency; (2) properties of the behavior,
such as the social role of the behavior, the context in which the behavior is exhibited, and
its similarity to other behaviors; (3) changes in the occurrence of the behavior over time;
and (4) knowledge of spontaneous or experimentally induced behavior in captivity. These
criteria do not require long-term studies at a single site, but information from multiple
populations of a species will generally be needed. These criteria are systematized into a
dichotomous key that can be used to assess whether a behavior observed in the field is likely
to be an innovation.
KEYWORDS: behavior, culture, improvisation, innovation, invention, operational definition,
social learning.
FULL TEXT: http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Ramsey-08242006/Referees/
==================================================================
*** CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS ***
==================================================================
Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for
commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new
Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL:
http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Ramsey-0824…
* If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to
submit a proposal with expertise information.
* If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org.
* Please respond to this Call no later than May 17, 2007
NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary journal
providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current research in the
biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS Associates, or suggested by a
BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please follow the instructions linked below:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html
==================================================================
==================================================================
Paul Bloom - Editor
Barbara Finlay - Editor
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
bbs(a)bbsonline.org
http://www.bbsonline.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY FORUM
Institute of Philosophy
Faculty of Humanities, Eotvos University
Room 208 Monday 4:00 PM Puskin u. 3, Budapest
Web site: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf
Another change of program:
I am sorry for ignoring the fact that 28 May is another non-working day
in Hungary ... so, unfortunately, we have to cancel Marta Bilkova's
lecture. So the May program will be the following:
7 May
There will be no seminar session! Reason:
Bruno Latour
Making Things Public: A New Space for Democracy?
5:30pm, Popper Room
CEU (Nador u. 9)
For further details, see: http://www.ceu.hu/news_events.jsp
14 May 4:00 PM Room 208 (Puskin u. 3)
Tihamer Margitay
Department of Philosophy and History of Science
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Hogyan lehetseges szabadsag? Egy masfajta kompatibilizmus
(How is freedom possible? Another kind of compatibilism)
Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf/2007/May/#2
21 May 4:00 PM Room 208 (Puskin u. 3)
Hajnal Andreka & Istvan Nemeti
Algebraic Logic, Alfred Renyi Institute of Mathematics, Budapest
Relativistic computing and the Turing barrier
Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf/2007/May/#3
With my apologies,
Laszlo E. Szabo
the organizer of the Forum
(leszabo(a)philosophy.elte.hu)
--
L a s z l o E. S z a b o
Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos University, Budapest
http://philosophy.elte.hu/leszabo
THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY FORUM
Institute of Philosophy
Faculty of Humanities, Eotvos University
Room 208 Monday 4:00 PM Puskin u. 3, Budapest
Web site: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf
This is just to remind you that there will be no seminar session on 30
April.(30 April is a non-working day; the campus will be closed.) Peter
Fazekas' lecture "The physical story behind Phenomenal Concept Strategy"
is moved to 4th June.
The next seminar session:
14 May 4:00 PM Room 208 (Puskin u. 3)
Tihamer Margitay
Department of Philosophy and History of Science
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Hogyan lehetseges szabadsag? Egy masfajta kompatibilizmus
(How is freedom possible? Another kind of compatibilism)
Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf/2007/May/#2
Finally, let me call your attention to the following lecture:
Bruno Latour
Making Things Public: A New Space for Democracy?
5:30pm, Popper Room, CEU (Nador u. 9)
For further details, see: http://www.ceu.hu/news_events.jsp
The organizer of the Forum: Laszlo E. Szabo
(leszabo(a)philosophy.elte.hu)
--
L a s z l o E. S z a b o
Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos University, Budapest
http://philosophy.elte.hu/leszabo
THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY FORUM
Institute of Philosophy
Faculty of Humanities, Eotvos University
Room 208 Monday 4:00 PM Puskin u. 3, Budapest
Web site: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf
Program: May
7 May
There will be no seminar session! Reason:
Bruno Latour
Making Things Public: A New Space for Democracy?
5:30pm, Popper Room
CEU (Nador u. 9)
For further details, see: http://www.ceu.hu/news_events.jsp
14 May 4:00 PM Room 208 (Puskin u. 3)
Tihamer Margitay
Department of Philosophy and History of Science
Budapest University of Technology and Economics
Hogyan lehetseges szabadsag? Egy masfajta kompatibilizmus
(How is freedom possible? Another kind of compatibilism)
Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf/2007/May/#2
21 May 4:00 PM Room 208 (Puskin u. 3)
Hajnal Andreka & Istvan Nemeti
Algebraic Logic, Alfred Renyi Institute of Mathematics, Budapest
Relativistic computing and the Turing barrier
Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf/2007/May/#3
28 May 4:00 PM Room 208 (Puskin u. 3)
Marta Bilkova
Department of Logic, Charles University, Prague
Modal logic in computer science
Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf/2007/May/#4
___________________________________
The Forum is open to everyone, including students,visitors, and faculty
members from all departments and institutes!
Format: 60 minute lecture, 10 minute coffee break, followed by a 30-60
minute discussion. The language of presentation is English or Hungarian.
A printable poster is available from here:
http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf/2007/May/poster.pdf
Please feel free to post it in your institution!
The organizer of the Forum: Laszlo E. Szabo
(leszabo(a)philosophy.elte.hu)
--
L a s z l o E. S z a b o
Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos University, Budapest
http://philosophy.elte.hu/leszabo
Kedves Kollegak,
(1) A 2006-os kotet igen kedvezmenyes aron (1000 Ft) kaphato az ELTE
Tudomanytortenet es Tudomanyfilozofia Tanszeken.
(2) Az (potcikkekkel bovitett...) elektronikus formaja felkerult a Typotex
honlapjara (courtesy Typotex Kft), elerheto a http://www.makog.hu -rol is.
udv kgy
Dear Dr. Qwerty,
==================================================================
BBS MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW -- CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS
==================================================================
Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for
commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new
Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL:
http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Byrne-04032…
* If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to
submit a proposal with expertise information.
* If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org.
* Please respond to this Call no later than May 14, 2007
NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary
journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current
research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS
Associates, or suggested by a BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please
follow the instructions linked below:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html
==================================================================
** Multiple Book Review Information **
==================================================================
Below is a link to the forthcoming précis of a book accepted for Multiple Book Review
in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS). Please note that it is the *BOOK*, not the
precis, that is to be reviewed.
PRECIS OF: The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality
AUTHOR: Ruth M. J. Byrne, Trinity College Dublin
ABSTRACT: The human imagination remains one of the last uncharted terrains of the
mind. People often imagine how events might have turned out if only something had
been different. The fault lines of reality, those aspects more readily changed,
indicate that counterfactual thoughts are guided by the same principles as rational
thoughts. In the past, rationality and imagination have been viewed as opposites. But
research has shown that rational thought is more imaginative than cognitive
scientists had supposed. In The Rational Imagination, I argue that imaginative
thought is more rational than scientists have imagined. People exhibit remarkable
similarities in the sorts of things they change in their mental representation of
reality when they imagine how the facts could have turned out differently. For
example, they tend to imagine alternatives to actions rather than inactions, events
within their control rather than those beyond their control, and socially
unacceptable events rather than acceptable ones. Their thoughts about how an event
might have turned out differently lead them to judge that a strong causal relation
exists between an antecedent event and the outcome, and their thoughts about how an
event might have turned out the same lead them to judge that a weaker causal relation
exists. In a simple temporal sequence, people tend to imagine alternatives to the
most recent event. The central claim in the book is that counterfactual thoughts are
organized along the same principles as rational thought. The idea that the
counterfactual imagination is rational depends on three steps: humans are capable of
rational thought; they make inferences by thinking about possibilities; and their
counterfactual thoughts rely on thinking about possibilities, just as rational
thoughts do. The sorts of possibilities that people envisage explain the mutability
of certain aspects of mental representations and the immutability of other aspects.
KEYWORDS: conditional, counterfactual, creativity, deduction, if only thoughts,
imagination, rationality, reasoning, simulation
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Byrne-04032007/Referees/
==================================================================
BBS MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW -- CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS
==================================================================
Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for
commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new
Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL:
http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Byrne-04032…
* If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to
submit a proposal with expertise information.
* If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org.
* Please respond to this Call no later than May 14, 2007
NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary
journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current
research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS
Associates, or suggested by a BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please
follow the instructions linked below:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html
==================================================================
==================================================================
Paul Bloom - Editor
Barbara Finlay - Editor
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
bbs(a)bbsonline.org
http://www.bbsonline.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
==================================================================
BBS MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW -- CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS
==================================================================
Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for
commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new
Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL:
http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Byrne-04032…
* If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to
submit a proposal with expertise information.
* If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org.
* Please respond to this Call no later than May 14, 2007
NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary
journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current
research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS
Associates, or suggested by a BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please
follow the instructions linked below:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html
==================================================================
** Multiple Book Review Information **
==================================================================
Below is a link to the forthcoming précis of a book accepted for Multiple Book Review
in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS). Please note that it is the *BOOK*, not the
precis, that is to be reviewed.
PRECIS OF: The Rational Imagination: How People Create Alternatives to Reality
AUTHOR: Ruth M. J. Byrne, Trinity College Dublin
ABSTRACT: The human imagination remains one of the last uncharted terrains of the
mind. People often imagine how events might have turned out if only something had
been different. The fault lines of reality, those aspects more readily changed,
indicate that counterfactual thoughts are guided by the same principles as rational
thoughts. In the past, rationality and imagination have been viewed as opposites. But
research has shown that rational thought is more imaginative than cognitive
scientists had supposed. In The Rational Imagination, I argue that imaginative
thought is more rational than scientists have imagined. People exhibit remarkable
similarities in the sorts of things they change in their mental representation of
reality when they imagine how the facts could have turned out differently. For
example, they tend to imagine alternatives to actions rather than inactions, events
within their control rather than those beyond their control, and socially
unacceptable events rather than acceptable ones. Their thoughts about how an event
might have turned out differently lead them to judge that a strong causal relation
exists between an antecedent event and the outcome, and their thoughts about how an
event might have turned out the same lead them to judge that a weaker causal relation
exists. In a simple temporal sequence, people tend to imagine alternatives to the
most recent event. The central claim in the book is that counterfactual thoughts are
organized along the same principles as rational thought. The idea that the
counterfactual imagination is rational depends on three steps: humans are capable of
rational thought; they make inferences by thinking about possibilities; and their
counterfactual thoughts rely on thinking about possibilities, just as rational
thoughts do. The sorts of possibilities that people envisage explain the mutability
of certain aspects of mental representations and the immutability of other aspects.
KEYWORDS: conditional, counterfactual, creativity, deduction, if only thoughts,
imagination, rationality, reasoning, simulation
http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Byrne-04032007/Referees/
==================================================================
BBS MULTIPLE BOOK REVIEW -- CALL RESPONSE INSTRUCTIONS
==================================================================
Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for
commentary and/or suggest potential commentators, please go to the new
Online Commentary Proposal System at the following URL:
http://www.bbsonline.org/perl/commentary/commproposal?authordir=Byrne-04032…
* If you only wish to suggest potential commentators, please ignore prompts to
submit a proposal with expertise information.
* If you experience technical difficulties, please email bbs(a)bbsonline.org.
* Please respond to this Call no later than May 14, 2007
NOTE: Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS) is an international, interdisciplinary
journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and controversial current
research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences. Commentators must be BBS
Associates, or suggested by a BBS Associate. If you are not a BBS Associate, please
follow the instructions linked below:
http://www.bbsonline.org/Instructions/associnst.html
==================================================================
==================================================================
Paul Bloom - Editor
Barbara Finlay - Editor
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
bbs(a)bbsonline.org
http://www.bbsonline.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------
THEORETICAL PHILOSOPHY FORUM
Institute of Philosophy
Faculty of Humanities, Eotvos University
Room 208 Monday 4:00 PM Puskin u. 3, Budapest
Web site: http://philosophy.elte.hu/tpf
There will be no seminar session on 30 April, due to the fact that 30
April is a non-working day; the campus will be closed.
Peter Fazekas' lecture "The physical story behind Phenomenal Concept
Strategy" is moved to 4th June.
With my apologies,
Laszlo E. Szabo
the organizer of the Forum
(leszabo(a)philosophy.elte.hu)
--
L a s z l o E. S z a b o
Theoretical Physics Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos University, Budapest
http://philosophy.elte.hu/leszabo