Here is the title and the abstract of the talk next week (see the other details below):

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Title: Naturalizing Gricean Communication: An Intentional Stance Approach 
 
Speaker: Ronald J. Planer (University of Wollongong) 

Abstract: 
Many theorists of language origins now view language as a cultural-evolutionary product of the human capacity for Gricean communication. However, basically no attention has been paid by these theorists to the naturalistic credentials of Grice's model of communication. The crux of the problem is that Grice's model is steeped in folk-psychological terms, and yet the question of how to locate folk-psychological states and their properties within a scientific-naturalistic worldview has proven to be among the most recalcitrant in the whole of the philosophy of mind and psychology. In this talk, I develop one way we might attempt to settle this theoretical debt by showing how Gricean communication - and, by extension, public language items - can be naturalized using Dennett's intentional stance theory of folk psychology. I then consider an important challenge to the proposed naturalization pathway. Put simply, the challenge concerns the possibility of residual intentional properties at the level of subpersonal cognitive mechanisms. I conclude by distinguishing three lines of response that remain open to a proponent of my version of naturalism about Gricean communication and language. 

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On 21/11/2025, at 10:48, Gyorgyne Finta <Szabor@ceu.edu> wrote:

The CEU Department of Cognitive Science cordially invites you to the following talk by:
 
 
Date: Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Time: 4 pm (to 5:30 pm) CET

Meeting ID: 926 7085 1861
Passcode: 898270
 
Chair: Gergely Csibra

Title: TBA

Ronald Planer received his PhD in Philosophy from Rutgers University, New Brunswick, in 2015. His doctoral research was in the philosophy of science, with a special focus on the biological and cognitive sciences, particularly where those fields overlap. The character of Ron’s current research might be described as the philosophy of human nature: it is aimed at understanding—and ideally developing testable models of—the biocultural evolution of some of the most fundamental aspects of human beings; for example, our linguistic abilities, our social-cognitive abilities, and our moral and political attitudes. Ron takes a highly interdisciplinary approach to this research, incorporating and using ideas from anthropology, archaeology, primatology, neuroscience, linguistics, computer science, and other fields. His work has appeared in some of the very best philosophy and science journals, such as Biology and Philosophy, Biological Theory, Current Anthropology, Mind and Language, and The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. In 2021, Ron completed his first book (co-authored with Professor Kim Sterelny), entitled From Signal to Symbol: The Evolution of Language (MIT Press). More broadly, Ron remains interested in core debates in the philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, philosophy of language, and philosophy of science.

Let Mariem know, please, if you would like to schedule a meeting with the speaker.
 
Best,
Reka
 
 
 
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GYÖRGYNÉ FINTA (RÉKA)
DEPARTMENT COORDINATOR
DEPARTMENT OF COGNITIVE SCIENCE
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