Title: The Knowledge and Action Laboratory (KAL)
Directors: Jean-Michel ROY & YU Zhenhua
Discipline: Philosophy
Status: Developing project
Starting date: 2013 /2011. This project was incubated at Joriss from 2011 to 2013.
Supervision
Summary
The general goal of the Knowledge & Action Lab is to foster research in the area of the theory of scientific knowledge, traditionally designated as philosophy of science or epistemology. The current understanding of the notion includes more, however, than these traditional designations, and extends to the history of science, the sociology of scientific knowledge and the study of the ethical and societal implications of scientific progress, etc. The ultimate objective of the Lab is to contribute to providing the deep, fast growing and challenging transformations of the scientific knowledge of our times with an appropriate epistemological reflection about their foundations, their significance, and their multifarious implications. As clearly illustrated by the crisis of the foundations of mathematics at the turn of the 20th century, the evolution of scientific knowledge shows that many of its most dramatic steps were in fact the direct outcome of the pursuit of epistemological concerns apparently deprived of immediate implications for its theoretical success or its technological developments.
Within this general perspective, the Lab will take as a main axis for its investigations the problem of the relations between knowledge and action, and therefore, between the theory of knowledge and the theory of action. Accordingly, its scientific identity will be defined by the central role played in its research activities by the following theoretical question: to what extent is action essential to knowledge, so that knowledge can be adequately analysed only if seen as an intrinsically action related activity?
Indeed, the recent evolution of modern epistemology has been marked by a revival of the opposition between two traditions, an intellectualist one and a pragmatist one, to the point of becoming one of the most essential structuring tensions of the field. This revival is a consequence of a variety of developments belonging to a complex array of areas and subareas of epistemology. Two of these developments at least should be mentioned. Philosophical neo-pragmatism, illustrated in particular by some prominent anglo-saxons philosophers, such as Richard Rorty, John McDowell or Hilary Putnam, who offered searching criticism of the intellectualist assumptions underlying the analytical tradition and its prolongation in mainstream cognitive science. And the pragmatist neurocognitive science of action (as well as the related more general approach to cognition known as enactive and embodied cognitive science), that has brought impressive empirical evidence (such as the canonical and mirror neurons) that the brain is an organ structurally and phylogenetically geared to make action possible. A recent publication such as Jerry Fodor's LOT2 The Language of Thought revised (2009), in which the author offers a defence of a revised version of his famous language of thought hypothesis, is a perfect illustration that the intellectualist/pragmatic divide has once again become a key alternative in the theory of knowledge with wide scale implications. Fodor writes symptomatically: Cognitive science did not, as it turned out, develop in the way that LOT 1 thought it would. Rather the mainstream view, not just in AI but in philosophy and cognitive psychology, is now a kind of pragmatism: what's essential to thought is not its relation to the things in the world that it represents but its relations to the actions (behaviors) that it guides.
The debate that the revival of this crucial opposition has elicited remains however inconclusive and does not do justice to the richness and complexity of its present day situation. Accordingly, the ambition of the Lab is to develop a full, systematic and detailed treatment of it, offering the international community of epistemologists a unique research instrument for achieving real progress in its resolution. As a consequence, its activities will be deployed along the following 3 main axes of investigation:
- AXIS1. Critical analysis: understanding and assessing the present situation of the intellectualist/pragmatic alternative. This axis will aim to establish an in-depth analysis of today's theoretical geography of the problem, as well as to provide a rigorous assessment of the progress really obtained so far.
- AXIS 2. Historical analysis: investigating the roots of the present situation of the intellectualist/pragmatic alternative. Due attention will also be paid to the historical development of the alternative as the Lab project is committed to the idea that history of epistemology represents an essential instrument in the investigation of contemporary epistemological problems. Furthermore, no a priori restriction should limit the scope of historical investigation, and in particular relevant work in the tradition of Chinese philosophy will be taken into account.
- AXIS 3. Theory construction: offering solutions to the different facets of the problem raised by the alternative. These different tasks will naturally culminate in developing theoretical proposals about the relations between action and knowledge. It is important to underline that the Lab is not committed to any specific viewpoint, but attempts to explore an important issue with a fully open-minded and scientific attitude that will ultimately favour the emergence of a certain degree of consensus in the epistemological community.
Activities
Workshop Practical Knowledge
November 27, 2015: “Workshop Practical Knowledge”, J.M. Roy & P. Steiner orgs., ENS de Lyon. Speakers: Nail Gascoigne, Roman Madzia, Pierre Saint Germier, Jean-Michel. Roy & Pierre Steiner
Round Table Knowledge and Action
November 4, 2015 : « Knowledge and Action : Special KAL Round Table», org. YU Zhenhua, « Conference : Tribute to Feng Qi », ECNU [Axis 2 ] [Specific Activity]
KAL Participants : YU Zhenhua, LI Quanmin, He Jing, YU Feng, Jin Rondong, J.M. Roy
Conference Feng QI
November 2-4, 2015: « Conference : Tribute to Feng Qi », orgs. YU Zhenhua &LI Quanmin, ECNU [Associated Activity]
Scientific Visit
October 28 –November 16, 2015 : Visit to ECNU of Jean-Michel Roy (ENSL) [ Specific activity]
Doctoral Defence
October 19, 2015: Defence of Doctoral Dissertation of Maxence Gaillard (« Les Images du Cerveau : Epistémologie de l’usage de l’imagerie cérébrale en sciences cognitives »), PHD
KAL member (supervised by J. M. Roy), ENS de Lyon
Scientific Visit
October 14, 2015 : FENG Mian (ECNU) : « Comparison between Two Semantics for Deductive Logic: Truth-value Semantics vs. Commonsensible Reasoning Semantics”, ENS de Lyon [Associated Activity]
Doctoral Defence
September 26, 2015 : Defense of co-tutelle Doctoral Dissertation of WANG Huiling (« Cognitive Science & the Pragmatist tradition »), PHD KAL member ( co-supervised by YU Zhenhua & J.M. Roy), ECNU
Philosfer Meeting
September 15, 2015: « 1st Philo-sfer meeting :doctoral research seminar », ENS Paris
[Associated Activity]
Brandom Reading Group
September 14, 2015: Brandom Reading Group, UTC, Paris [ Pierre Steiner, LI Quanmin, He Jing, J.M. Roy] [Axis 2 ] [Specific Activity]
Kal Organizing Meeting
September 14, 2015: KAL Organizing Meeting, UTC, Paris [Pierre Steiner, LI Quanmin, He Jing, J.M. Roy] [All Axes] [Specific Activity]
Second European Pragmatist Conference
September 11, 2015: KAL Session « The Pragmatist Turn in Cognitive Science », Second European Pragmatist Conference, Sep- 9-11, Paris. [Axis 3] [Specific Activity]
Participants & Presentations :
Pierre Steiner, Costech, Université de Technologie de Compiègne : « Differences that make a difference. Dewey, cognitive science, and the spirit of the experimental method. »
LI Quanmin, Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University, « An Action-Oriented Approach to Understanding Social Cognition. »
HE Jing He, Knowledge and Action Lab, East China Normal University, « The pragmatic roots of enactive and extended cognition. »
Jean-Michel Roy, Ecole Normale Supérieure Lyon, « Defining Cognitive Pragmatism: The Problem of Concept Pragmatism. »
Scientific Visit
September 8-15, 2015 : Visit to ENS Paris of LI Quanmin (ECNU): [Specific Activity]
Scientific Visit
September 8-15, 2015 : Visit to ENS Paris of HE Jing (ECNU): September 8-15 [Specific Activity]
Second European Pragmatist Conference
September 9-11, 2015 : Second European Pragmatist Conference, participation to organizing instances of KAL members Pierre Steiner & Stéphane Madelrieux [All axes] [Associated Activity]
Scientific Visit
September 28- October 25, 2015: Visit to ENS Lyon of FENG Mian (ECNU) [Associated Activity]
Scientific Visit
September 25-October 17, 2015: Visit to ECNU of Jean-Michel Roy (ENSL) [Specific activity]
Conference Philosophy of Science
August 16-17, 2015 : Biennial Conference of philosophy of science of China , organized by Li Quanmin and Yu Feng [All axes] [Associated Activity]
Scientific Visit
July 7-17, 2015: Visit to ECNU of Jean-Michel Roy (ENSL) [Associated Activity]
Doctoral Defence
June 22, 2015 : Defense of Doctoral Dissertation (« Les arguments de concevabilité ») of Pierre Saint-Germier, PHD KAL member (co-supervised by J.M. Roy & Anne Reboul), ENS de Lyon
Archive Research
June 8-19, 2015 : Research investigation « Russell and Dewey : the Chinese theater » : archive research at Shanghai Municipal Archives by J.M Roy & GU Hongliang [Axis 3 ] [Specific Activity]
Round Table
June 13, 2015 : Round Table « Phenomenology and cognition :Merleau-Ponty, embodiment and anti-representationalism », ECNU, orgs. He Jing & J.M. Roy
Participants : Yinjin Xu, Fudan University ; Qiu Wang, Jiaotong University ; Rocky Clancy, Jiaotong University ; YU Zhenhua, ECNU ; LI Quanmin, ECNU ; Jing He, ECNU ; Jean-Michel Roy , ENS Lyon & ECNU
Scientific Visit
June 8-19, 2015: Visit to ECNU of Jean-Michel Roy (ENSL) June 8-19 [ Specific activity]
Workshop Foundations of the Enactive Approach
May 16, 2015 : Workshop « Foundations of the Enactive Approach», ECNU, orgs. He Jing & J.M. Roy
Participants & Presentations:
YU Xiaojing (Beijing Normal University): Enactive Cognition and Extended cognition »
P. Steiner (UTC): « Enacting anti-representationalism : the scop and limits of enactive critiques of representationalism »
YU Feng (ECNU): « Enactive Perception and the dual-vision system »
J.M. Roy (ENSL): « Now Hiring : Intentionality for Enactivism »
Shawn Tao (Nanjing University): On sensotimotor theory of perception : a functional reconstruction »
Scientific Visit
April 24-May 25 , 2015: Visit to ECNU of Jean-Michel Roy (ENSL) [ Specific Activity]
Scientific Visit
May 2015: Visit to ECNU of Pierre Steiner (UTC Compiègne) [ Associated Activity]
Workshop The Problem of Cognitive Pragmatism (2)
May 9, 2015 : Workshop « The Problem of Cognitive Pragmatism (2)», ECNU, orgs. He Jing & J.M. Roy [ Specific Activity]
Participants: P. Steiner, YU Zhenhua, YU Feng, LI Quanmin, J.M. Roy, Wang Huiling
Workshop The Problem of Cognitive Pragmatism (1)
May 4, 2015 : Workshop « The Problem of Cognitive Pragmatism (1)», ECNU, orgs. He Jing & J.M. Roy [ Specific Activity]
Participants: P. Steiner, YU Zhenhua, YU Feng, LI Quanmin, J.M. Roy, Wang Huiling
Lectures
January - February 2015 : Lectures « Wittgenstein & Private Language: the Genesis of an Argument » by Joao Vergilio Cuter, University of Sao Paulo [Axis 3 ] [ Associated Activity]
Lectures
February 6, 10, 25, 2015 : Lectures « The influence of John Dewey’s Pragmatism on Modern China » by GU Hongliang (ECNU), Lectures, ENS de Lyon [Axis 3 ] [ Specific Activity]
Scientific Visit
February 1-27, 2015: Gu Hongliang (ECNU), Visit to ENS de Lyon
KAL Organizing Committee Meeting
November 25, 2014 : KAL Organizing Committee and Book Editing Committee, ECNU
KAL Work Session
November 24, 2014 : Work session on Merleau Ponty He Jing & J.M. Roy, ECNU
Dewey Conferences
January 19, 2014: Conférences Dewey (org. C. Gautier and S. Madelrieux) [RO3; Associated activity].
Participants : Session "pragmatisme et politique":
- Alice Le Goff (Université Paris Descartes) : "Autour du projet progressiste d'une démocratie sociale : une confrontation entre John Dewey et Max Weber"
- Roberto Frega (EHESS) : "Le pragmatisme comme philosophie politique"
Workshop Neuroethics & Pragmatism
November 12, 2014 : Workshop Neuroethics & Pragmatism, YU Zhenhua & J.M. Roy org. (Axis 1)
Presentation by Eric Racine, Institut d’Etudes Cliniques de Montréal
Collective discussion of Eric Racine’s A pragmatist approach to Neuroethics
Conference The Societal Dimension
November 10-11, 2014: The Societal Dimension of Science, orgs. J.-M. Roy & Gu Hongliang, ECNU (Axis 1 & 2 ; associated activity)
Conference The contemporary theory of Knowledge & Action
November 1-2, 2014: Conference The contemporary theory of Knowledge & Action, ECNU [Axis 2 ; specific activity]
Scientific Visit
August 10-January 31, 2014 : Visit of He Jing , University of Southern Denmark, Department of Sport Science, Medical School, (Prof. Ejgil Jespersen)
Scientific Visit
July and August, 2014 : Visit of GU Hongliang as Visiting Scholar, East Connecticut State University, USA
Workshop Knowing How & Pragmatism
June 24-25, 2014 : Workshop Knowing How & Pragmatism, ENS de Lyon [Axis 1 & 2 ; specific activity]
KAL Organizing Committee Meeting
June 23, 2014: KAL Organizing Meeting, ENS de Lyon ( YU Zhenhua & J.M. Roy)
Scientific Visit
June 20-26, 2014 : Visit of YU Zhenhua and LI Quanmin to ENS de Lyon
Brandom Reading Group
June 10, 2014 : Meeting of Brandom Reading Group, ECNU [Axis 2 ; specific activity]
KAL Work Session
May 28, 2014 : Work session on Merleau Ponty He Jing & J.M. Roy, ECNU
Conference The Societal Dimension of Science
May 20-June 2014: series of organizing meetings for JoRISS Conference The Societal Dimension of Science (GU Hongliang, J.M. Roy, Qian Yunhua)
KAL Organizing Committee Meeting
May 22, 2014: KAL Organizing Meeting (YU Z. & Roy J.M.)
KAL Organizing Committee Meeting
March 6, 2014 : KAL Organizing Meeting for JoRISS Conference, ENS of Lyon
Scientific Visit
August 10-January 31, 2014 : HE Jing, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Sport Science, Medical School, (Prof. Ejgil Jespersen)
Workshop Schizophrenia and the nature of delusions
Dec 16-17, 2013 : Workshop Schizophrenia and the nature of delusions : to believe or not to believe ?
Flor E. Cely & J.M. Roy Org., [RO 1 ; associated activity]
Participants : Shaun Gallagher, University of Memphis ; Keith Frankish, University of Crete ; Patrice Soom, Heinrich Heine Universität ;Tim Thornton, University of Central Lancaster ;He Jing, East China Normal University ; Flor Cely Avila, Universidad del Bosque ; Jean-Michel Roy, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon
Dewey Conferences
Dec 9, 2013: Conférences Dewey (org. C. Gautier and S. Madelrieux) [RO3; Associated activity] Participants : Michael Williams (The Johns Hopkins University) : "Dreamers, Drunkards and Doppelgängers: the Originality of Descartes's First Meditation"
Conference Knowledge & Action
Nov 9-10, 2013 : Conference Knowledge & Action (RO 2), Li Quanmin & YU Zhenhua org., ECNU
Archive Research
Nov. 4-6, 2013 : Visit of GU H. & J.M. Roy to Historical Archives of Beijing University & National Library of China (Beijing) [RO 3 ; specific activity]
Workshop Reconception of Action (2)
Oct 28-29, 2013 : Workshop Reconception of Action (2), S. Corrado & J.M. Roy org., University of Milano [ RO 1 ; specific activity]
Participants : J.M. Roy, Marcel Brass, Anna Berti, Leonardo Fogassi, Joshua Sheperd, Corrado
Sinigaglia, Johannes Roessler
Workshop Concepts
Oct 21-22, 2013 : Workshop Vers une théorie des concepts : l’apport des sciences cognitives, P. Saint-Germier & Roy J.M. Or. , ENS de Lyon [ RO1 &2 ; associated activity]
Participants : Liliana Gurova, Yu Feng, Jean-Michel Fortis, Stephen Laurence, Uriah Kriegel
Conference: The Cognitive Foundation of Chinese Culture
International Conference: The Cognitive Foundation of Chinese
Culture, (organisation Yang Guorong, Li Quanmin) (Associated activity), ECNU, 23d -24th of June, 2013.
Workshop History of Pragmatism
June 10, 2013: Workshop organized at ECNU, Resp. J. He, [RO3] (Specific Activity)
Participants: P. Steiner, Gu Hongliang, J.M. Roy, ZHANG Liuhua
With the support of the Lyon Region through the COOPERA Program
Seminar on neo-Pragmatism : Workshop Pragmatism and Concepts
June 7, 2013: Workshop organized by J. He & J.M.. Roy at ECNU in the context of the Seminar on neo-pragmatism [RO2], (Specific activity)
Participants: P. Steiner, YU,Feng, J.M. Roy
With the support of the Lyon Region through the COOPERA Program
Seminar on neo-Pragmatism : Reading Group on Brandom’s pragmatic theory of concepts
June 7, 2013: Third Session of Reading Group on Brandom’s pragmatic theory of concepts, Resp. Jing He, ECNU [RO2]
With the support of the Lyon Region through the COOPERA Program
Scientific visit
Scientific visit of Professor Pierre Steiner from the 5th to the 13th of May 2013, ECNU.
With the support of the Lyon Region through the COOPERA Program
Scientific Visit
June 2013: Scientific Visit at ECNU of J.M. Roy (ENSL)
With the support of the Lyon Region through the COOPERA Program
Lecture: “Does Domination Presuppose Recognition?”
April 5, 2013: Lecture delivered by Prof. E. Renault (ENS, Lyon) at the Conference International workshop, 4- 6 April 2013 at the Institute for Social Research at Goethe-University Frankfurt, (ENS, Lyon) (Associated Activity) [RO3]
Lecture : "I that is We, We that is I"
June 6, 2013: Lecture delivered by Prof. E. Renault at the 3d Contemporary Hegel International Conference, 5-7 June, Venice
Workshop Dewey
Workshop « Dewey » organized by C. Gautier and S. Madelrieux on the 17th of May 17, 2013, ENSL.
Participants : Louis Quéré « Pourquoi Dewey n’a pas besoin d’une théorie critique » ; Raymond Boisvert (Sienna College) « Dewey : l’enjeu non-moderne d’un pluraliste radical », (Associated Activity).
Workshop Tacit Knowledge
Workshop Tacit Knowledge, May 12, 2013, ECNU.
Lecture Dewey’s relation to Hegel
Lecture Dewey’s relation to Hegel, Professor E. Renault, 19th of March, ECNU.
Scientific visit
March, 14-29, ECNU: Scientific visit of E. Renault in connection with the PROSFER program.
Workshop Emotion, disposition, action : le pragmatisme et son héritage
Feb. 15, Lyon 3: Workshop “Emotion, disposition, action : le pragmatisme et son héritage” (org. S.Madelrieux and S. Lépine, Lyon 3) (Associated activity)
Découvrir Dewey (4)
Feb-May, 2013, ENSL, Seminar Découvrir Dewey (4),Resp. Stéphane Madelrieux, Emmanuel Renault and C. Gautier & IRPHIL of Lyon 3, (Associated activity)
Scientific visit
January 2013, ECNU: Scientific visit of J.M. Roy
Scientific visit
Jan 1-June 30, ECNU: Scientific visit, Clémence Chastan , Special Student
Seminar on neo-Pragmatism : Reading Brandom’s pragmatist theory of concepts
Jan 16 and 23, 2013, ECNU: Seminar on neo-Pragmatism : Reading Brandom’s pragmatist theory of concepts
Seminar Découvrir Dewey (4)
Jan 22, 2013, ENSL: « Dewey et l’idée de logique de 1891 à 1901 », Séminar Découvrir Dewey (4), org. C. Gautier, S. Madelrieux, E. Renault, ENS de Lyon.
Lecture Dummett and the essence of analytic philosophy
Jan 9, 2013, ECNU: Lecture: Dummett and the essence of analytic philosophy, JM Roy (ENS).
Knowledge and Action in Contemporary Perspectives
“Knowledge and Action in Contemporary Perspectives” was organized by Prof. YU Zhenhua the 17th and 18th of November 2012 in ECNU.
Journée d'Etudes Richard Rorty et le pragmatisme
On June 14, 2012, 10h-15h30
Salle F08, Descartes, ENS de Lyon
Journée d'Etudes Richard Rorty et le pragmatisme, in association with the Institut de Recherches Philosophiques of Lyon III,organized by Emmanuel Renault & Stéphane Madlerieux
Workshop “Revisiting the pragmatist tradition: the Chinese Theater”
Workshop “Revisiting the pragmatist tradition: the Chinese Theater” was organized in ENS de Lyon in April 6.
Participants:
- Yang Guorong (ECNU),
- Yin Xiao (Central China Normal University),
- Jean-Michel Roy (ENSL),
- Emmanuel Renault (ENSL),
- Stéphane Madelrieux (Lyon 3) (Specific activity)
Workshop "Reconceptions of Action I
Workshop “Reconceptions of Action 1” was organized by KAL members J.-M. Roy & Corrado Sinigagalia in ENS de Lyon the 23rd and 24th of March.
Participants:
- Gabriella BOTTINI, Psychology Department, University of Pavia, Pavia, Laboratorio di Neuropsicologia del Dipartimento di Scienze Neurologiche de ll’Ospedale Niguarda Cà Granda
- Alessandro FARNE, Espace & Action Laboratory, INSERM, Lyon
- Stephen BUTTERFILL, Department of Philosophy, Warwick University Yves ROSSETTI, Physiology, Lyon Medical School Lyon-Est & Espace & Action Laboratory, INSERM, Lyon
- Corrado SINIGAGLIA, Department of Philosophy, University of Milan 4
Workshop Séminaire découvrir Dewey (3)
« Séminaire découvrir Dewey (3) » was run by KAL members Stéphane Madelrieux and Emmanuel Renault, in collaboration with IRPHIL of Lyon 3, from February to June in ENS de Lyon.
The 2d Workshop Cognition & Pragmatism : The nature of action in pragmatist perspective
The 2d Workshop Cognition & Pragmatism : The nature of action in pragmatist perspective, took place at ECNU in Shanghaï, the 2nd November. It was organized by Z. YU & J.M. Roy and including presentations by 5 KAL Chinese and French KAL members (S. Madelrieux, Q. LI, J.M. Roy, Z. He, S. Madlerieux)
Chinese Congress of Analytical Philosophy
From 29 to October 30, 2011
ECNU
KAL is an official partner of the 2011 Chinese Congress of Analytical Philosophy, a key event in the Chinese philosophical community.
The official program of the Congress includes a session dedicated to the KAL research operation.
In the wake of the 2011 Chinese Congress of Analytical Philosophy, an independent KAL Workshop took place in the ECNU JORISS offices on October 29 and 30.
It was organized by Z. YU and the ECNU Philosophy department:
- keynote address of Prof. Jean-Michel Roy
- Special KAL SESSION: Non-propositional knowledge, org. by Z. Yu & J.M Roy, including presentations by Zhenhua YU, Stéphane Madelrieux (Lyon 3) and C. Sinigaglia (University of Milan)
Scientific Visit of Professor Jean-Michel Roy (ENS-Lyon, Philosophy)
From October 10 to November 7, 2011
ECNU
Workshop: Cognitive science and the revival of pragmatism
From 23 to June 24, 2011
ECNU
Workshop is the kick off meeting of Research Operation 1 about the relations between contemporary cognitive science and the pragmatist perspective and tradition.
This research operation is part of a broader scope research program, The Knowledge and Action Lab (KAL), dedicated to the present state of the Pragmatism versus Intellectualism controversy.
The Workshop adopts an exploratory and open perspective. Its goal is to examine a variety of themes of potential relevance for clarifying the relation between the contemporary study of cognition and the idea of pragmatism. Contributions address not only the question of a possible pragmatist turn of cognitive science, but also developments in the cognitive field, in the pragmatist tradition (such as philosophical neo-pragmatism) or in studies of the history of pragmatism that are of direct interest for analyzing this relation.
Ideogram and the Cognitive Character of Chinese Culture
On June 22, 2011
Salle des Thèses, Monod Campus, ENS de Lyon
Lecture by Professor PAN Derong (ECNU, Philosophy), June 22, 5pm, Salle des Thèses, Monod Campus "Ideogram and the Cognitive Character of Chinese Culture"
Within the framework of the Joint Research Institute for Science and Society (JoRISS), Professors Jean-Michel ROY and YU Zhenhua who head the KAL (Knowledge & Action Lab) research operation organized a public lecture for this new structure which is aimed at developing research collaboration between the ENS de Lyon, the ECNU at Shanghai and the CNRS. The lecture took place in the Salle des Thèses of the Jacques Monod site. It was followed by a friendly reception.
Professor PAN Derong, Director of the Philosophy Department of the ECNU at Shanghai and Associate Professor at the University of Luzern (German speaking), can be congratulated on his performance in giving a lecture in English of the theme:
"Ideogram and the Cognitive Character of Chinese Culture".
The lecture simultaneously approached ideograms from the perspective of their cognitive mechanisms and the hermeneutic perspective in order to see how messages are perceived according to their source - discourse, reading or lesson - and to their vector - alphabet-based or ideogram-based written text. The public included students and researchers from the ECNU as well as researchers form the ENS de Lyon, the CNRS and other higher education and research institutions in Lyon.
Professor PAN Derong also participated in the Cognitive Science & the revival of pragmatism workshop organized by the KAL on June 23rd and 24th and in which Professors YU Zhenhua and LI Quanmin from the ECNU also took part.
Scientific Visit of Professor LI Quanmin and Professor PAN Derong
From 21 to June 28, 2011
ENS de Lyon
Professor LI Quanmin and Professor PAN Derong (ECNU, Philosophy) did a scientific visit in ENS de Lyon for one week.
The expansion of epistemology: The metaphysical vs The pragmatic approach
On June 9, 2011, 10h30-12h30
Salle F 05, Campus Descartes, ENS de Lyon
Conference of Professor YU Zhenhua (ECNU, Philosophy)
"In the perspective of world philosophy, one phenomenon of the 20th century is quite intriguing. In China as well in the West, there were a group of philosophers who were not happy with the traditional conception of epistemology. They thought that traditional epistemology was too narrow-minded and argued that the scope of epistemology should be expanded. The Chinese way of expanding epistemology might be called the metaphysical approach and the Western way the pragmatic approach. In this talk, I will first of all give an outline of both approaches, and then try to demonstrate that a substantial dialogue can be created between them. By focusing on the problem of the articulation of what we know, I will make the metaphysical approach and the practical approach engage each other and thus prove to be mutually complementary."
Scientific Visit of Professor YU Zhenhua
From May 30 to June 28, 2011
ENS de Lyon
Professor YU Zhenhua (ECNU, Philosophy) did a scientific visit in ENS de Lyon as visiting Professor.
The paradoxes of voluntary action: a perspective on Taoist thought
On March 30, 2011
ECNU
Presentation by Professor Graziani to the KAL group.
Scientific visit
From March 23, to April 6, 2011
Professor Romain Graziani (ENS de Lyon, Philosophy) did a scientific visit for two weeks in ECNU.
Talk “How Can Naturalistic Epistemology Handle Issues of Epistemic Normativity ?"
On March 1, 2011
Talk of Professor Jing Zhu, Institute of Logic & Cognition and Department of Philosophy Sun Yat-sen University & Institute of Philosophy of Mind and Cognition, National Yang Ming University.
Radical embodied cognition and extended cognition vs. "classical" cognitive neurosciences: can we go beyond the terminological issues?
On February 21, 2011
ECNU
A specialist of pragmatics and cognition, Anne Reboul is a senior CNRS researcher, heading the L2C2 Research Unit at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Lyon. She is currently visiting the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies (http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/en/staff/list2). Her talk is essentially involved with topics of KAL research operation 1 but bears also on those of Research operations 2 (neopragmatism). She will offer a critical analysis of the hotly debated notion of extended cognition.
Seminar "Découvrir Dewey, II"
From January 30 to April 11, 2011
Seminar sessions: Jan 31, Feb. 7, Feb 21, March 14, March 28, April 11
Université Lumière Lyon 2 & Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3
In the context of Research Operation 3 dedicated to the history of pragmatist thinking and its confrontation with similarly oriented intellectual traditions, the KAL project hosts a seminar dedicated to pragmatist thinker John Dewey organized by KAL members Stéphane Madelrieux (Philosophy, Institut de Recherches Philosophiques of Lyon, Lyon III University) and Emmanuel Renault (Lyon ENS).
The goal of this seminar is to contribute to a better knowledge of the American philosopher John Dewey (1859-1952) through the translation and critical analysis of one of its works: The Influence of Darwin on Philosophy and Other Essays (1910). Never translated into French before and comprizing eleven essays, this book is strictly contemporary with the expansion of pragmatism, that Dewey saw as an element of a borader movement of "intelectual reocnstruction". As suggested by its very title, Dewey emphasizes the historical conditions that make such a reconstruction necessary if one refuses to address present day problems of with conceptual tools of the past.
The seminar follows up on the work carried out in 2009-2010, that was dedicated to Esaays I to IV. The first two hours of each session are devoted to translation, and the next two ones to commentary.
Seminar "Aristote Psychologie et théorie de l'action"
From January 24 to April 1, 2011
ENS de Lyon
Seminar "Aristote Psychologie et théorie de l'action" by Professor Pierre-Marie Morel (Philosophy, Lyon ENS & KAL member)
For details and attendance, contact Professor Morel
Seminar for the Epistemology of Cognitive Science (CESC): Embodied approaches to cognitive science
On December 16, 2010
Lyon
Presentation by KAL member HE Jing in the Seminar for the Epistemology of Cognitive Science (CESC): Embodied approaches to cognitive science.
As part of KAL research operation 1 on cognitive pragmatism, Prof. HE made a presentation in the Lyon CESC Seminar for the Epistemology of Cognitive Science dedicated in 2010-2011 to the emerging notion of a non Cartesian cognitive science.
Cognitive pragmatism is a key facet of this emerging notion and it is also closely linked in particular with the correlated notion of embodied cognitive science on which Prof. HE specifically focused her presentation. She offered a personal analysis and assessment of the multiplicity of approaches gathered under this later label, with the aim of clarifying this key transformation of the cognitive field and its significance for the issue of the primacy of action.
International Workshop : What is it like to be schizophrenic? (KAL)
From 13 to 14 December, 2010
ENS de Lyon, Center for the Epistemology of Cognitive Science (CESC)
The Kal project collaborated with this international workshop held the Lyon ENS on December 13-14, 2010. Co-organized by Jean-Michel Roy, who delivered the opening talk, it was also attended by HE Jing from ECNU as an invited discussant. The topic of the workshop, the possibility of a rigorous capture of the content of schizophrenic experience that makes it amenable to scientific explanation, is closely linked with the problem of cognitive pragmatism that constitutes the object of KAL research operation 1. A key problem about schizophrenia is indeed the pathological experience of action of the schizophrenic patient and its possible teachings about the nature and role of action in cognition.