The Second International Symposium of Cognition, Logic and Communication

University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

Oswald Külpe: Aspects of a Qualitative Science

December 8-9, 2006

Organized by:

Program Committee:

Prof. Dr. Hellmuth Metz-Göckel
(University of Dortmund, Deutschland)
Prof. Dr. Gvido Straube
(University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia)
Prof. Dr. Fiorenza Toccafondi
(University of Parma, Italy)

Executive chair of the committee:

Jurgis Skilters
(CCSS, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia)

Invited Speakers:

Prof. Dr. Mitchell G. Ash
(Universität Wien, Austria / Berlin-Brandenburgische Wissenschaftsakademie, Deutschland)
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Kriz
(Universität Osnabrück, Germany)

Call for Papers

Oswald Külpe (1862-1915), pioneer of experimental psychology, leading founder of the Würzburg School, laid the foundation for a qualitative science of cognition and the current cognitive paradigms in Philosophy, Psychology and the Information Technologies. Külpe systematically investigated conscious thought and defined the dynamics of imageless thought introspection, mental set, and motivated attention which form the basis of modern cognitive sciences. In Clinical Psychology for example, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, an Evidence Based Technique which challenges the use of psychotropic medications in solving mental problems, stems in part directly from data generated in Külpe’s Würzburg Psychological Laboratory.

The Second International Symposium of Cognition, Logic and Communication will explore Külpe’s influence on the development of these modern cognitive sciences and will focus on research from historic, scientific and theoretical perspectives. Studies of all relevant dimensions of Külpe’s ground-breaking work are nevertheless welcome, including (but not limited to) analyses from the perspectives of philosophy, psychology and related social sciences, jurisprudence, linguistics (especially cognitive oriented semantics), mathematics and logic.

For example, features of Külpe’s qualitative approach to cognition, especially conscious thought processes, will be highlighted in theoretically oriented papers. Scientifically oriented investigations will focus on Külpe’s contention that reductionism and an exclusively quantitative approach to cognition and related phenomena are unidimensional and inadequate. Historical analyses will explore the cogent controversies among the founders of the cognitive sciences, including the crucial debates between Külpe and his critics, especially Edward B. Titchener (1867-1927), Robert S. Woodworth (1869-1962), and Wilhelm M. Wundt (1832-1920). This debate determined for decades the direction of experimental introspection, and the scientific investigation of conscious thought, attention and intention in human behavior. The Cognitive Revolution has seized center stage in the burgeoning sciences of linguistics, the social sciences, and economics and has impacted such natural sciences as theoretical mathematics, quantum physics, and sociobiology. This Symposium will explore how the pioneering cognitive research of Oswald Külpe and the Würzburg School showed the way.

Symposium Languages:
German und English

Symposium proceedings will be published.

EXTENDED Deadline for submissions:
October 20, 2006

Notification of referee results:
November 1, 2006

Tuition fee:
Coffee breaks and conference materials included: To be announced

Additional Information:

Assist Prof. Dr. Jurgis Skilters
Director
Center for Cognitive Sciences and Semantics
Faculty of History and Philosophy
University of Latvia
Brivibas boulev. 32
Riga LV-1050
e-mail: Jurgis.Skilters@lu.lv
Tel. 00 371 (2) 927-6772