Tuesday, 10 November 2009
Do Group Cognitive States Play a Causal-Explanatory Role?
Robert Rupert, University of Colorado at Boulder, Department of Philosophy
12:05 pm, 817R Cathedral of Learning

::: photos

Abstract:  This talk explores ways in which one might try to establish the existence of group-level cognitive states -- that is, cognitive states instantiated by a collection containing at least two individuals who themselves have cognitive states (for example, a court or a corporation). I argue that commitment to group states is gratuitous from a causal-explanatory standpoint; and to the extent that group states do (or appear to) play a causal-explanatory role, such states differ so greatly from paradigmatic cognitive states that they lack cognitive status.