Dear Dr. Qwerty,
==================================================================
*** 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=Bering-1130…
* 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 March 21, 2006
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: The Folk Psychology of Souls
AUTHOR: Jesse M. Bering
ABSTRACT: The present article examines how peopleÂ’s belief in an afterlife, as well as closely
related supernatural beliefs, may open an empirical backdoor to our understanding of the
evolution of human social cognition. Recent findings and logic from the cognitive sciences
contribute to a novel theory of existential psychology, one that is grounded in the tenets of
Darwinian natural selection. Many of the predominant questions of existential psychology
strike at the heart of cognitive science. They involve: causal attribution (why is mortal
behavior represented as being causally related to oneÂ’s afterlife? how are dead agents
envisaged as communicating messages to the living?), moral judgment (why are certain social
behaviors, i.e., transgressions, believed to have ultimate repercussions after death or to
reap the punishment of disgruntled ancestors?), theory of mind (how can we know what it is
“like” to be dead? what social-cognitive strategies do people use to reason about the minds of
the dead?), concept acquisition (how does a common-sense dualism interact with a formalized
socio-religious indoctrination in childhood? how are supernatural properties of the dead
conceptualized by young minds?), teleological reasoning (why do people so often see their
lives as being designed for a purpose that must be accomplished before they perish? how do
various life events affect peopleÂ’s interpretation of this purpose?) among others. The central
thesis of the present article is that an organized cognitive ‘system’ dedicated to forming
illusory representations of (i) psychological immortality, (ii) the intelligent design of the
self, and (iii) the symbolic meaning of natural events evolved in response to the unique
selective pressures of the human social environment.
KEYWORDS: causal reasoning; death concept; evolutionary theory; existential psychology; folk
biology; intelligent design; intentionality; mental representation; teleological reasoning;
theory of mind.
FULL TEXT: http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Bering-11302004/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=Bering-1130…
* 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 March 21, 2006
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
-------------------------------------------------------------------
********* APOLOGIES FOR MULTIPLE POSTINGS *********
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LAST CALL FOR PAPERS
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Formal Ontologies for Communicating Agents (FOCA)
http://www.loa-cnr.it/esslli06/
July 31 - August 4, 2006
organized as part of the European Summer School on Logic, Language and
Information
ESSLLI 2006 http://esslli2006.lcc.uma.es/
July 31 - August 11, 2006 in Malaga
************************************************************************
******************
WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS:
Roberta Ferrario (ferrario at loa-cnr.it)
Nicola Guarino (guarino at loa-cnr.it)
Laurent Prevot (prevotlaurent at gmail.com)
************************************************************************
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WORKSHOP PURPOSE:
In recent years lots of efforts have been devoted to formal studies of
human and artificial agent communication. Research advancements have
been achieved along three main lines: (i) agent's internal states and
dynamics, (ii) social interaction and conventional communicative
patterns, (iii) semantics-pragmatics interface - especially in the
dialogue context (i.e. the interplay between the semantic content of
messages and the communicative acts themselves). There is a recent
trend of studies trying to integrate these approaches in many ways. On
the other hand, formal ontology has been consecrated as a good solution
for comparing and integrating information and thus its application to
this specific domain is very promising . More precisely, an ontological
analysis of the fundamental ingredients of interaction and
communication will make explicit the hidden ontological assumptions
underlying all these proposals.
Ontology has also proven to be a very powerful means to address issues
related to the exchange of meaningful communication across autonomous
entities, which can organize and use information heterogeneously.
The purpose of the workshop is therefore to gather contributions that
(i) take seriously into account the ontological aspects of
communication and interaction and (ii) use formal ontologies for
achieving a better semantic coordination between interacting and
communicating agents.
*********************************************************
WORKSHOP TOPICS
We encourage contributions concerning the two main areas listed below
with a particular attention to explore the interplay between
ontological analysis and its applications in practical cases.
* Ontological aspects of interaction and communication
- Ontological analysis of interaction and communication
- Studies on the structure and coherence of interaction
- Logical models for communicative acts
- Primitives of interaction and communication
- Formal semantics of dialogue
*Semantic coordination through formal ontologies
- Dialogue semantics and formal ontology
- Dynamic ontology sharing
- Ontological primitives for meaning negotiation, ontological
alignment and semantic interoperability
   - Ontology evolution through communication
 - Concrete problems and experiences in terminological
disambiguation and integration
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SUBMISSION DETAILS:
Authors are invited to submit an extended abstract describing original
contributions to the workshop topics. Submissions should range between
3 and 5 pages.
The following formats are accepted: .doc, .tex, .pdf (please, always
include source files).
Please send your submission electronically to the following email
address:
esslli06 at loa-cnr.it
by the deadline listed below. The submissions will be reviewed by the
workshop's programme committee and additional reviewers. The accepted
papers will
appear in the workshop proceedings published by ESSLLI. The
format for the final version will be .pdf.
A selection of the best papers accepted at the workshop will be
considered for publication in the international journal 'Applied
Ontology' (http://www.applied-ontology.org/).
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WORKSHOP FORMAT:
The workshop is part of ESSLLI and is open to all ESSLLI
participants. It will consist of five 90-minute sessions
held over five consecutive days in the first week
of ESSLLI. There will be 2 or 3 slots for paper presentation
and discussion per session. On the first day the workshop
organizers will give an introduction to the topic.
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IMPORTANT DATES:
Submissions : March 8, 2006
Notification : April 21, 2006
Full paper deadline: May 1st, 2006
Final programme : June 21, 2006
Workshop Dates : July 31 - August 4, 2006
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WORKSHOP PROGRAM COMMITTEE: (tentative)
Thomas ADDIS (University of
Portsmouth) http://www.tech.port.ac.uk/staffweb/addist/tom.html
Nicholas ASHER (University of Texas, Austin,
USA) http://www.utexas.edu/cola/depts/philosophy/faculty/asher/
main.html
John BATEMAN (University of Bremen,
Germany) http://www-user.uni-bremen.de/~bateman/
Guido BOELLA (University of Torino, Italy)
http://www.di.unito.it/~guido/
Paolo BOUQUET (University of Trento,
Italy) http://dit.unitn.it/~bouquet/
Scott FARRAR (University of Bremen,
Germany) http://www.u.arizona.edu/~farrar/
Roberta FERRARIO (LOA-ISTC, CNR, Trento,
Italy) http://www.loa-cnr.it/ferrario.html
Aldo GANGEMI (LOA-ISTC, CNR, Roma,
Italy) http://www.loa-cnr.it/gangemi.html
Nicola GUARINO (LOA-ISTC, CNR, Trento,
Italy) http://www.loa-cnr.it/guarino.html
Andreas HERZIG (IRIT-CNRS, Toulouse,
France) http://www.irit.fr/ACTIVITES/LILaC/Pers/Herzig/
Joris HULSTIJN (Utrecht University, the
Nehterlands) http://www.cs.vu.nl/~joris/
Kepa KORTA (Universidad del Pais Vasco,
Spain) http://www.sc.ehu.es/ylwkocak/kepa.html
Massimo POESIO (University of Essex and University of
Trento)http://cswww.essex.ac.uk/staff/poesio/
Laurent PREVOT (Academia Sinica, Taipei,
Taiwan) http://www.loa-cnr.it/prevot.html
Matt PURVER (CSLI, Stanford, USA) http://www.stanford.edu/~mpurver/
William RAPAPORT (University of Buffalo,
USA) http://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~rapaport/
Johan VAN BENTHEM (University of Amsterdam, the
Netherlands)http://staff.science.uva.nl/~johan/
Rogier VAN EIJK (Utrecht University, the Netherlands)
http://www.cs.uu.nl/people/rogier/
Laure VIEU (IRIT-CNRS, Toulouse,
France) http://www.irit.fr/ACTIVITES/LILaC/Pers/Vieu/
************************************************************************
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LOCAL ARRANGEMENTS:
All workshop participants including the presenters will be
required to register for ESSLLI. The registration fee for
authors presenting a paper will correspond to the early
student/workshop speaker registration fee. Moreover, a number
of additional fee waiver grants might be made available by
the local organizing committee on a competitive basis and
workshop participants are eligible to apply for those.
There will be no reimbursement for travel costs or accommodation.
Workshop speakers who have difficulty in finding funding
should contact the local organizing committee to ask for the
possibilities of a grant.
************************************************************************
******************
FURTHER INFORMATION:
About the workshop: http://www.loa-cnr.it/esslli06/
About ESSLLI: http://esslli2006.lcc.uma.es/
Philosophy of Science Colloquium
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest
Room 1.817 (1st floor) Monday 4:00 PM
Pazmany P. setany 1/C Budapest, Hungary
Phone/Fax: (36-1) 372 2924
http://hps.elte.hu
6 March 4:00 PM 1st floor 1.817
Language: English
Gabor Kutrovatz
Department of History and Philosophy of Science
Eotvos Lorand University, Budapest
Apriorism in the Sociology of Scientific Knowledge
Abstract: http://philosophy.elte.hu/colloquium/2006/March/#1
___________________________________
The colloquium is open to everyone, including students, visitors, and faculty
members from all departments!
The 60-minute lecture is followed by a 10-minute break. Then we hold a
30-60-minute discussion. The participants may comment on the talks and are
encouraged to initiate discussion through the Internet. The comments should
be written in the language of the presentation.
The organizer of the colloquium: Laszlo E. Szabo (email: leszabo(a)hps.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://hps.elte.hu/leszabo
==================================================================
*** IMPORTANT ***
==================================================================
Please DO NOT respond to this email. If you wish to submit a proposal for commentary and/or
suggest potential commentators, please follow the Call Response Instructions which follow the
Target Article Information below.
==================================================================
CALL FOR COMMENTATORS - Target Article Information
==================================================================
Below is a link to a forthcoming BBS target article:
"The Folk Psychology of Souls"
by Jesse M. Bering
This article has been accepted for publication in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (BBS), an
international, interdisciplinary journal providing Open Peer Commentary on important and
controversial current research in the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences.
The Calls are sent to 10,000 BBS Associates, so there is no expectation (indeed, it would be
calamitous) that each recipient should comment on every occasion! Please DO NOT prepare a
commentary unless you eventually receive a formal invitation, indicating that it was possible
to include your name on the final list, which is constructed so as to balance areas of
expertise and frequency of prior commentaries in BBS. To help you decide whether you would be
an appropriate commentator for this article, an electronic draft is retrievable at the URL
that follows the abstract and keywords below.
ABSTRACT: The present article examines how peopleÂ’s belief in an afterlife, as well as closely
related supernatural beliefs, may open an empirical backdoor to our understanding of the
evolution of human social cognition. Recent findings and logic from the cognitive sciences
contribute to a novel theory of existential psychology, one that is grounded in the tenets of
Darwinian natural selection. Many of the predominant questions of existential psychology
strike at the heart of cognitive science. They involve: causal attribution (why is mortal
behavior represented as being causally related to oneÂ’s afterlife? how are dead agents
envisaged as communicating messages to the living?), moral judgment (why are certain social
behaviors, i.e., transgressions, believed to have ultimate repercussions after death or to
reap the punishment of disgruntled ancestors?), theory of mind (how can we know what it is
“like” to be dead? what social-cognitive strategies do people use to reason about the minds of
the dead?), concept acquisition (how does a common-sense dualism interact with a formalized
socio-religious indoctrination in childhood? how are supernatural properties of the dead
conceptualized by young minds?), teleological reasoning (why do people so often see their
lives as being designed for a purpose that must be accomplished before they perish? how do
various life events affect peopleÂ’s interpretation of this purpose?) among others. The central
thesis of the present article is that an organized cognitive ‘system’ dedicated to forming
illusory representations of (i) psychological immortality, (ii) the intelligent design of the
self, and (iii) the symbolic meaning of natural events evolved in response to the unique
selective pressures of the human social environment.
KEYWORDS: causal reasoning; death concept; evolutionary theory; existential psychology; folk
biology; intelligent design; intentionality; mental representation; teleological reasoning;
theory of mind.
FULL TEXT: http://www.bbsonline.org/Preprints/Bering-11302004/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=Bering-1130…
* 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.
NOTE: 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
** Please respond to this Call no later than March 21, 2006 **
==================================================================
==================================================================
Paul Bloom - Editor
Barbara Finlay - Editor
Behavioral and Brain Sciences
bbs(a)bbsonline.org
http://www.bbsonline.org
-------------------------------------------------------------------