Philosophy

Stephen Butterfill's main research is in philosophy of mind, with a focus on philosophical issues in developmental psychology. He is also interested in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of action. He is currently Associate Professor in philosophy.

He currently has individual and collaborative work in progress in four main areas: joint action; theory of mind and behaviour reading; categorical and speech perception, their relation to core knowledge; and sources of knowledge.

Abstract:

Abstract:

This paper attempts to draw some lessons about the nature of belief from considerations concerning beliefs’ ‘bedfellows’: states that are not paradigmatic beliefs but are belief-like in certain important respects. I examine the merits of various proposals about how to categorize such states, before turning to the question of what such states might be able to teach us concerning the nature of belief, the propositional attitudes, and mental states more generally.

The Philm Club cordially invites you to this week's screening:

Somersault in a Coffin
Tabutta Rövaşata

Directed by Derviş Zaim
Turkey, 1996
Turkish with English subtitles

77 mins.

On May 18 Friday, at 18:00
Zrinyi 14 / Room 412

Charles Taylor - Interpretation, modernity, and identity 

Charles Taylor - Interprétation, modernité et identité

On the 5th and the 6th of June 2012 in Budapest

Les 5 et 6 juin 2012 à Budapest

organized by/organisé par

Csaba Olay

(Université Eötvös Budapest)

and/et

Institut Français Budapest & Central European University

The CEU Institute for Advanced Studies and the Department of Philosophy at CEU cordially invite you to:

Budapest workshop in Philosophy of Mind and Cognitive Science

May 14th-15th  - Zrinyi u. 14, Room 412

Program:

May 14th

2:00-3:00pm Georges Rey, "Learning, Expressive Power and Mad Dog Nativism"

3:00-3:10 Coffee break

3:10-3:25pm Commentary: Zoltan Jakab

3:25-3:40pm Commentary: Barry Loewer

3:40-4:00pm Response: Georges Rey

4:00-5:00pm Discussion

The Philm Club cordially invites you to this week's screening:

The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
El secreto de sus ojos

Directed by Juan Jose Campanella
Spanish with English subtitles
129 min

2010 Academy Awards - Best Foreign Language Film

April 20 Friday, at 6 p.m.
Zrinyi 14 / Room 412

Abstract
Where does usefulness of color perception come from? I want to argue that what enables us to talk about the usefulness of ‘detecting’ red is the unity bestowed by the response (the ‘visaging’ of phenomenal redness). It is the relational, response-dependent usefulness, response-usefulness for short.
I shall also discuss the opposite view of Mohan Matthen who derives reality of color from the usefulness of color recognition, rather than usefulness from its reality.

Abstract:
I regard research into the creative nature of language as underlying the
cognitive turn in linguistics in recent years. Formal creativity, or in
other words, the recursive nature of language (with respect to both the
basic units, such as words, and the end products, i.e., sentences) is what
determines further domains of creativity, víz., at the level of meanings
and in the theory of mind, providing for their unlimited and variable
nature. Starting from Chomskyan principles of the formal properties of

We meet weekly to discuss one or two short stories from the science fiction genre, exploring and responding to the ideas found in the story.  The stories we read are literary, contemporary, and short.

For our last meeting this semester, we will be reading "Cocoon" by Greg Egan, which deals with the theme of eugenics.