Society for Philosophy and Psychology

Society for Philosophy and Psychology
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Name	Society for Philosophy and Psychology
Formation	1974
Type	Learned society
Headquarters	United States
Fields	Philosophy; Psychology; Cognitive science

Society for Philosophy and Psychology is an interdisciplinary learned society that brings together scholars from analytic philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience. Founded in the 1970s, it functions as a forum for work at the intersection of philosophy of mind, experimental psychology, philosophy of language, computational modeling, and experimental philosophy. Meetings and publications associated with the organization often feature connections to work linked with institutions such as Harvard University, Princeton University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, and Yale University.

History

The society was established in the 1970s amid cross-disciplinary ferment similar to developments at Carnegie Mellon University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and University of Chicago. Early gatherings echoed debates arising from figures affiliated with Noam Chomsky, Daniel Dennett, Jerry Fodor, Steven Pinker, and Jerome Bruner and engaged with research programs from connectionism and the computational theory of mind. The organization’s timeline intersects with conferences and initiatives linked to Cognitive Science Society, American Philosophical Association, Association for Psychological Science, Society for Neuroscience, and centers such as the Center for Cognitive Science (NYU) and the Institute for Advanced Study. Milestones include expanding international participation with scholars from University of Toronto, Australian National University, University of Edinburgh, University of Hong Kong, and institutions in Germany, France, and Japan.

Mission and Scope

The society promotes cross-fertilization among researchers associated with philosophy of psychology, experimental philosophy, psycholinguistics, developmental psychology, neuroscience of cognition, and artificial intelligence. Its remit often overlaps with agendas pursued at National Institutes of Health, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, European Research Council, and philanthropic programs connected to John Templeton Foundation and MacArthur Foundation. Topics addressed include issues central to work by scholars at Columbia University, University of Pennsylvania, Brown University, Dartmouth College, and University of Michigan such as representation, consciousness, perception, reasoning, and language acquisition.

Conferences and Meetings

Annual meetings and symposia are convened alongside sessions at venues like Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness events and joint collaborations with Cognitive Science Society conferences, often hosted at universities including University of California, Los Angeles, Cornell University, Northwestern University, University College London, and King's College London. Conferences have featured panels with contributors associated with Hilary Putnam, Saul Kripke, Gottfried Leibniz scholarship, contemporary work connecting to Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, John Searle, Alvin Goldman, and intersections with experimentalists from Rutgers University and University of Toronto Mississauga. Special sessions address themes prominent in symposia at American Psychological Association conventions and workshops linked to European Society for Philosophy and Psychology initiatives.

Publications and Awards

Proceedings, special issues, and edited volumes emerging from meetings have appeared in venues connected with editorial boards at Philosophical Review, Mind, Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Studies, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, Cognition, Trends in Cognitive Sciences, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, and Synthese. The society has recognized early-career and senior scholars via prizes akin to awards bestowed by Association for Psychological Science, British Academy, National Science Foundation, and disciplinary honors such as the Guggenheim Fellowship and fellowships at Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Collections of keynote papers have been published by academic presses including Oxford University Press, MIT Press, Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and Springer.

Membership and Governance

Membership draws philosophers and psychologists affiliated with departments at Princeton University, University of California, San Diego, Brown University, University of Michigan, New York University, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin–Madison, University of Pennsylvania, and international centers such as École Normale Supérieure, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, CNRS, and Riken. Governance typically involves an elected board, program committees, and rotating officers with ties to organizations like American Philosophical Association and funding bodies including National Science Foundation and Wellcome Trust.

Notable Members and Contributions

Over the years the society’s members have included scholars whose work links to major figures and movements: proponents of theories associated with David Marr, Eric Kandel, Donald Davidson, Wilfrid Sellars, Roderick Chisholm, and contemporary contributors such as John McDowell, Timothy Williamson, Susan Carey, Elizabeth Spelke, Frank Jackson, Patricia Churchland, Paul Churchland, Ned Block, Tyler Burge, Amie Thomasson, Michael Gazzaniga, Christof Koch, Anne Treisman, Eleanor Rosch, Ray Jackendoff, Mark Johnson, Eve Clark, Michael Tomasello, Alison Gopnik, Dedre Gentner, Philip Johnson-Laird, Stephen Stich, Shaun Nichols, Joshua Knobe, Edwin L. Turner, Simon Baron-Cohen, Martha Farah, Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, Gerd Gigerenzer, Klaus Holldobler, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz scholarship connections, and researchers active at Salk Institute and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. Contributions include influential work on representation, theory of mind, concept learning, consciousness studies, neural correlates of cognition, and experimental philosophy, with cross-citations to literatures in major journals and collaborations that span institutions such as Harvard Medical School, UCL Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, and Allen Institute for Brain Science.

Category:Learned societies Category:Philosophy organizations Category:Cognitive science organizations