Epigenesis of Mind and Thinking

Outline of the course:

The aim of the course was to understand the development of our knowledge and what develops, that is what knowledge structures are innate, if any. Other constraining factors like theoretical beliefs are also proposed. Any development certainly involves change. The issue of change in cognitive development - is change continuous or radical and discontinuous? - has also been addressed.

The role of hypothesis and theoretical beliefs in thinking is addressed in part of the book "thinking" entitled "hypotheses". Another part "concepts" read by us tells about the nature of these units of thoughts.

Carey S. and Gelman R. 1991. The Epigenesis of Mind. Hillsdale, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum. (Part II "Innate Knowledge and Beyond)

Johnson-Laired, P. and Wason P.C. 1977. Thinking. Cambridge, London: Cambridge University Press. (Part III "Conceptual Thinking" and Part IV "Hypotheses")

In these anthologies the papers were authored by the following: Spelke, E S, Karmiloff-Smith, A, Fischer K W and Bidell T, Keil F C, Carey S, Gelman R, Sokal R R, Rosch E, Nelson K, Bowerman M, Popper K, Kuhn T S, Karmiloff-Smith, A and Inhelder B, and Wason PC

Evaluation: Continuous evaluation and term paper.