Call for abstracts - International Conference "From Grooming to Speaking: Recent Trends in Social Primatology and Human Ethology"
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Ricardo S. Reis dos Santos
Apr 17, 2012, 1:22:21 PM4/17/12
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Dear all,
The Centre for Philosophy of Science of the University of Lisbon is organizing a 3-day international conference entitled "From Grooming to Speaking: Recent Trends in Social Primatology and Human Ethology", on September 10-12, 2012, at the Faculty of Science, Lisbon.
Conference website
http://cfcul.fc.ul.pt/linhas_investigacao/Philosophy%20of%20Life%20Sciences/int_col/index.htm
Plenary talks will be given by
Johan Bolhuis
Augusta Gaspar
Nathalie Gontier
Mary Lee Jensvold
Simone Pika
Tim Racine
Jordan Zlatev
Scientific Committee
Daniel Dor, Tel Aviv University, Israel, UQAM, Candada
Luc Faucher, UQAM, Candada
Nathalie Gontier, Free University of Brussels, Belgium (chair)
David Leavens, University of Sussex, UK
Robert Lickliter, Florida International University, US
Mark Nelissen, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Eugenia Ramirez Goicoechea, UNED, Spain
Emanuele Serrelli, University of Milan, Italy
Chris Sinha, Lund University, Sweden
James Steele, University College London, UK
Ian Tattersall, American Museum of Natural History, NY
Natalie Uomini, University of Liverpool, UK
Arie Verhagen, University of Leiden, the Netherlands
Luis Vicente, Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Lisbon
Organizing Committee
Nathalie Gontier (chair), Dutch Free University of Brussels, Belgium
Olga Pombo, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Call for abstracts
We call for primatologists, ethologists, anthropologists, sociobiologists, evolutionary, cognitive and comparative psychologists, biolinguists, evolutionary linguists, bio-ethicists, philosophers and historians of science, to provide talks on:
(1) Historical reviews on the introduction and use of primate studies to acquire knowledge on the origin and evolution of communication and language
The rise of comparative psychology, ethology, primatology, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary linguistics, and evolutionary anthropology
Cross-fostering experiments, experiments that had as goal to learn non-human primates to talk or sign, or to learn artificial languages such as Yerkes
The shifts from behaviorism and instructionism to cognitivism and selectionism
The nature/culture debate
The innate/acquired debate
The continuity/discontinuity debate
(2) Methodologies of primate communication and language research
Which research methodologies combine and diversify ethologists, primatologists, sociobiologists, anthropologists, evolutionary psychologists and evolutionary linguists? (ASL and Yerkes experiments; instructionist, behavioral versus selectionist, adaptationist approaches; the use and disuse of Tinbergen's 4 questions in ethology; how to study ultimate and proximate causes of behavior
Did classic ethology and comparative psychology, with its focus on instructionist and behaviorist methodologies, fail? Did the cognitive turn succeed in providing answers there were behaviorism failed? And is selection theory able to provide answers to questions neither ethologists nor cognitivists could?
Which methodologies are used to study (human) primate verbal and non-verbal communication strategies in wild, captive, and natural settings (how are experiments set up, how are biases controlled, how is data collected and interpreted, how are theories formed)?
How do ontogenetic studies of normal and pathological behavior lend insight into phylogeny (what aspects of development enable or disable scientists to draw inferences on human evolution, what's the rationale behind comparative research, how do pathologies lend insight, either into normal development, or into the evolutionary past of hominins)?
How do the primate and ethological research methodologies differ from, relate to, or complement genetic and neurological research?
(3) Theories on primate communication and the evolution of language
Gestural versus vocal origin theories (grooming as gossip theories, mirror neurons, non-verbal communication theories (including facial expressions, pointing and gestural research), co-verbal gesturing theories, signing theories, mimesis, imitation).
Evolutionary theories on language as a social communication device
Theory of Mind versus embodiment theory, in human and non-human primates
Theories on learning (conditioning, observational learning, imitation)
Theories on cultural transmission (chimpanzee, bonobo and human cultures)
Which theoretical frameworks and evolutionary mechanisms enable adequate explanations on language evolution (natural selection, drift, systems theory, the Baldwin and ratchet effect, co-evolutionary theories, dual inheritance theories)
(4) Ethical issues in social primatology and human ethology
Policy and guidelines on (human) primate studies in the wild, under captivity, or under experimental conditions
Animal rights (e.g. if non-human primates have ToM, do we need to attribute them legal rights, does the concept of "legal person" apply to non-human primates)
The role and responsibility of researchers
Much more than providing a platform for the dissemination of new research results, the conference organizers will give preference to reflexive talks, that deal with theoretical, methodological and ethical issues of primate research and ethology, and how the latter fields provide insight into human language evolution.
Abstract submission guidelines
Abstracts can be sent electronically, to rssa...@fc.ul.pt. The following information should be included:
First Name
Last Name (+ Possible co-presenters)
Affiliation
Contact address
e-mail address
Abstracts can maximally contain 500 words, references not included.
Deadline for abstract submission is June 30th, 2012, and notification of acceptance will follow by July, 15th, 2012.
Proceedings
A selection of talks will be published in an anthology for the Springer Book Series "Interdisciplinary Evolution Research". Editors-in-chief of the series are Nathalie Gontier and Olga Pombo.
Submission guidelines
http://cfcul.fc.ul.pt/linhas_investigacao/Philosophy%20of%20Life%20Sciences/int_col/call.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Centre for Philosophy of Science
Faculty of Science, University of Lisbon
Campo Grande, Edifício C4, Piso 3, Gabinete 4.3.24
1749-016 Lisbon
PORTUGAL
Phone. +351 217 500 365 | Fax. +351 217 500 346
W. http://cfcul.fc.ul.pt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear all,
The Centre for Philosophy of Science of the University of Lisbon is organizing a 3-day international conference entitled "From Grooming to Speaking: Recent Trends in Social Primatology and Human Ethology", on September 10-12, 2012, at the Faculty of Science, Lisbon.
Conference website
http://cfcul.fc.ul.pt/linhas_investigacao/Philosophy%20of%20Life%20Sciences/int_col/index.htm
Plenary talks will be given by
Johan Bolhuis
Augusta Gaspar
Nathalie Gontier
Mary Lee Jensvold
Simone Pika
Tim Racine
Jordan Zlatev
Scientific Committee
Daniel Dor, Tel Aviv University, Israel, UQAM, Candada
Luc Faucher, UQAM, Candada
Nathalie Gontier, Free University of Brussels, Belgium (chair)
David Leavens, University of Sussex, UK
Robert Lickliter, Florida International University, US
Mark Nelissen, University of Antwerp, Belgium
Eugenia Ramirez Goicoechea, UNED, Spain
Emanuele Serrelli, University of Milan, Italy
Chris Sinha, Lund University, Sweden
James Steele, University College London, UK
Ian Tattersall, American Museum of Natural History, NY
Natalie Uomini, University of Liverpool, UK
Arie Verhagen, University of Leiden, the Netherlands
Luis Vicente, Centre for Environmental and Marine Studies, University of Lisbon
Organizing Committee
Nathalie Gontier (chair), Dutch Free University of Brussels, Belgium
Olga Pombo, Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Lisbon, Portugal
Call for abstracts
We call for primatologists, ethologists, anthropologists, sociobiologists, evolutionary, cognitive and comparative psychologists, biolinguists, evolutionary linguists, bio-ethicists, philosophers and historians of science, to provide talks on:
(1) Historical reviews on the introduction and use of primate studies to acquire knowledge on the origin and evolution of communication and language
The rise of comparative psychology, ethology, primatology, sociobiology, evolutionary psychology, evolutionary linguistics, and evolutionary anthropology
Cross-fostering experiments, experiments that had as goal to learn non-human primates to talk or sign, or to learn artificial languages such as Yerkes
The shifts from behaviorism and instructionism to cognitivism and selectionism
The nature/culture debate
The innate/acquired debate
The continuity/discontinuity debate
(2) Methodologies of primate communication and language research
Which research methodologies combine and diversify ethologists, primatologists, sociobiologists, anthropologists, evolutionary psychologists and evolutionary linguists? (ASL and Yerkes experiments; instructionist, behavioral versus selectionist, adaptationist approaches; the use and disuse of Tinbergen's 4 questions in ethology; how to study ultimate and proximate causes of behavior
Did classic ethology and comparative psychology, with its focus on instructionist and behaviorist methodologies, fail? Did the cognitive turn succeed in providing answers there were behaviorism failed? And is selection theory able to provide answers to questions neither ethologists nor cognitivists could?
Which methodologies are used to study (human) primate verbal and non-verbal communication strategies in wild, captive, and natural settings (how are experiments set up, how are biases controlled, how is data collected and interpreted, how are theories formed)?
How do ontogenetic studies of normal and pathological behavior lend insight into phylogeny (what aspects of development enable or disable scientists to draw inferences on human evolution, what's the rationale behind comparative research, how do pathologies lend insight, either into normal development, or into the evolutionary past of hominins)?
How do the primate and ethological research methodologies differ from, relate to, or complement genetic and neurological research?
(3) Theories on primate communication and the evolution of language
Gestural versus vocal origin theories (grooming as gossip theories, mirror neurons, non-verbal communication theories (including facial expressions, pointing and gestural research), co-verbal gesturing theories, signing theories, mimesis, imitation).
Evolutionary theories on language as a social communication device
Theory of Mind versus embodiment theory, in human and non-human primates
Theories on learning (conditioning, observational learning, imitation)
Theories on cultural transmission (chimpanzee, bonobo and human cultures)
Which theoretical frameworks and evolutionary mechanisms enable adequate explanations on language evolution (natural selection, drift, systems theory, the Baldwin and ratchet effect, co-evolutionary theories, dual inheritance theories)
(4) Ethical issues in social primatology and human ethology
Policy and guidelines on (human) primate studies in the wild, under captivity, or under experimental conditions
Animal rights (e.g. if non-human primates have ToM, do we need to attribute them legal rights, does the concept of "legal person" apply to non-human primates)
The role and responsibility of researchers
Much more than providing a platform for the dissemination of new research results, the conference organizers will give preference to reflexive talks, that deal with theoretical, methodological and ethical issues of primate research and ethology, and how the latter fields provide insight into human language evolution.
Abstract submission guidelines
Abstracts can be sent electronically, to rssa...@fc.ul.pt. The following information should be included:
First Name
Last Name (+ Possible co-presenters)
Affiliation
Contact address
e-mail address
Abstracts can maximally contain 500 words, references not included.
Deadline for abstract submission is June 30th, 2012, and notification of acceptance will follow by July, 15th, 2012.
Proceedings
A selection of talks will be published in an anthology for the Springer Book Series "Interdisciplinary Evolution Research". Editors-in-chief of the series are Nathalie Gontier and Olga Pombo.
Submission guidelines
http://cfcul.fc.ul.pt/linhas_investigacao/Philosophy%20of%20Life%20Sciences/int_col/call.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Centre for Philosophy of Science
Faculty of Science, University of Lisbon
Campo Grande, Edifício C4, Piso 3, Gabinete 4.3.24
1749-016 Lisbon
PORTUGAL
Phone. +351 217 500 365 | Fax. +351 217 500 346
W. http://cfcul.fc.ul.pt
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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