31st January, 17-18.30 : HADY BA, UNIFYING LF AND LOGICAL FORM,

Next Doc'in Nicod : Hady Ba, PhD student with François Récanati. 

Thursday 31st of January, 17-18.30, Seminar Room, Pavillon Jardin. 

Abstract : 

In this talk, I will do three things. First, I will contrast linguist's LF with logicians logical form. I will then argue than given the formalization of LF given by May (1985), this level is equivalent with FOL with generalized quantifiers, and LF is nothing else than logicians' logical form. Finally, I will show how this equivalence should help us in settling some philosophical disputes, such as the debate over internalism and the very nature of standing meaning. 

16th JANUARY '08, 14h00-15h30

Nicolas Claidière, PhD student with Dan Sperber, will present the next Doc in Nicod seminar, on wednesday the 16th of January, from 14h00 to 15h30.

"From Evolution Psychology to Cultural Evolution" 

Abstract : 

Since the 1980's, there are three kinds of theories dealing with the evolution of human cultures from a Darwinian perspective (Dawkins' memetic theory ; Cavalli-Sforza and Feldman's double inheritablity ; Sperber's epidemiology of representations). As we shall see, these theories rely on a more or less broad Darwinism and on different psychological models. I shall here give a proper characterization of each of them and evaluate them with regards to relevant empirical data in psychology.