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May 30
15:30 - 17:00
Nick Chater (Business, Warwick) - The Mind is Flat: The illusion of depth in minds, markets and morality

Nick Chater (Business, Warwick) - The Mind is Flat: The illusion of depth in minds, markets and morality

Many theories of cognition and decision making assume that people's decisions and utterances arise from 'underlying' beliefs and preferences, which can, with sufficient methodological care, be determined. I argue that these 'hidden depths' are illusory; that thought and behaviour are only locally coherent; and that the process of creating such local coherence is an important (and very challenging) cognitive goal. Rather than determine our behaviour with reference to 'inner' beliefs and preferences, I argue instead that we must infer our beliefs and preferences in just the same way we infer those of other people (both real and fictional). Our own 'hidden mental depths' may be no less an illusion than the hidden depths we impute to a fictional character. This viewpoint has implications for theories of decision making, as well as for economics and ethics.

Joint event with CCNCS

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101 Computing,
Cornwallis South West,
The University of Kent,
Canterbury,
Kent,
CT2 7NF
United Kingdom
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Open to All, Free
E: d.corfield@kent.ac.uk
School of European Culture and Languages
Categories: Lectures, talks and seminars
Tags: Philosophy

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Last Updated: 14/02/2013