This page contains automatically translated content.

Junior Research Group - ZFF Project "Situated Cognition".

The philosophy of situated cognition (PSC) analyzes the methodological repertoire of the so-called 4E theories. These theories are also known as "extended mind", "enactivism", "embedded mind" as well as "embodiment theory". These approaches have been developed in an interdisciplinary way with significant participation of philosophy in order to investigate cognitive phenomena (such as motor control or spatial navigation). The main task of the PSC is the systematic identification as well as the philosophical evaluation of the methods and explanations used in the 4E theories. The aim of the project is to provide a comprehensive methodology of the 4E theories. It will be analyzed on which philosophical foundations, in which methodological context and with which methodical means research on the topic of "situated cognition" can best be realized and interdisciplinary coordinated. In doing so, the PSC contains descriptive components, describing what researchers on the topic of 4E are doing de facto, and normative components, describing what these researchers should change to improve their research.

 

Research Interests: Philosophy of mind, 4E theories, situated cognition, philosophy of science, theory of explanation, pragmatism.

Research Stays

  • 09/2017
    Technical University, Compiègne: CRED Research Group (Frankreich), Host: Prof. Dr. Pierre Steiner.

  • 11/2016 - 12/2016
    University of California, Berkeley: Institute of Philosophy (California, USA), Host: Prof. Dr. Alva Noë.

  • 08/2016 - 10/2016
    University of Memphis: Institute of Philosophy (Tennessee, USA), Host: Prof. Dr. Shaun Gallagher.

  • 05/2016 - 07/2016
    University of Edinburgh: School for Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences (UK), Host: Dr. Mark Sprevak.

Teaching

  • SoSe 2022
    Seminar I: Diskurswerkstatt (seminar for rhetoric and logic)
    Seminar II: A Biological Theory of Cognition: Enactivism

  • WiSe 2021/22
    Seminar I: Philosophy of Psychology
    Seminar II: Theories of Emotions
    Seminar III: Research Seminar "Recent Philosophy of Mind" (together with M.Sc Flavio Artese)

  • SoSe 2021
    Seminar I: The Concept of Mind

  • WiSe 2020/21
    Seminar I: Philosophy of Mind and the Concept of Mental Representation
    Seminar II: Neo-Pragmatism and Expressivism
    Seminar III: Research Seminar "Situated Cognition" (together with Prof. Yvonne Förster und M.Sc Flavio Artese)

  • SoSe 2020
    Seminar I: Philosophy of Mechanisms. Explanations and Discoveries in the Life Sciences
    Seminar II: John Dewey: The Quest for Certainty

  • WiSe 2019/20
    Seminar I: Situated Cognition. Basics and Critique of an Interdisciplinary Philosophy of Mind
    Seminar II: Philosophical Pragmatism. Research, Truth, and the Renewal of Philosophy

  • SoSe 2009-WiSe2012/13
    Tutorials (official parts of the course of study for BA-students (Humboldt University); tutorials given in: Intr. to Phil., Pract. Phil., Theor. Phil., Phil. o. Mind)

Stipends

  • 02/2018
    International Mobility for Post-Docs (Int.Mo.P) Ruhr-Universität Bochum, RUB Research School

  • 01/2016
    International Realization Budget (IRB) Ruhr-Universität Bochum, RUB Research School

  • 04/2014 bis 03/2017
    PhD Scholarship Exzellenzcluster BWG, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin.

Academy

  • 09/2019 to date University Kassel, Institute for Philosophy, Leader – Junior Research Group

  • 04/2017 to 12/2018
    Humboldt-University Berlin, Cluster of Excellence BWG, Research Fellow

  • 04/2014 to 03/2017
    Humboldt-University Berlin, Cluster of Excellence BWG, Scholarship holder

  • 09/2011 to 09/2013
    Research Group "Images and Embodiment", research assistant

  • 04/2009 to 03/2013
    Humboldt-University Berlin, Institut f. Phil., Tutor

Education

  • 03/2018 PhD Certificate

  • 03/2015 bis 10/2018
    PhD Candidate (Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Philosophy)

  • 10/2010 bis 9/2013
    Master of Arts (Humboldt-University Berlin, Philosophy)

  • 4/2008 bis 9/2010
    Bachelor of Arts (Humboldt-University Berlin, Philosophy & Sociology)

  • Workshop
    “Methodology of Situated Cognition Research”.
    3rd & 4th March 2021, University of Kassel, Institute of Philosophy.
    Speakers: Sabrina Coninx, Marco Facchin, Manuel Heras-Escribano, Julian Kiverstein, Beate Krickel, Gui Sanches de Oliveira, Pierre Steiner, Alfredo Vernazzani, Flavio Artese, Mark-Oliver Casper.

  • Workshop
    “Philosophical Alliances in Cognitive Science. The Case of Pragmatism and Enactivism”.
    10th & 11th December 2020, University of Kassel, Institute of Philosophy.
    Speakers: Roberta Dreon, Ludger Van Dijk, Glenda Satne, Pierre Steiner, Flavio Artese, Mark-Oliver Casper.

  • Workshop
    “Please Restart Revolution? Computational Post-Cognitivism PROs & CONs”.
    5th & 6th November 2020, University of Kassel, Institute of Philosophy.
    Speakers: Mario Villalobos, Daniel Estrada, Farid Zahnoun, Przemysław Robert Nowakowski, Flavio Artese, Mark-Oliver Casper

Books

Articles (published)

  • Casper, Mark-Oliver; Artese, Giuseppe Flavio (2020): Maintaining Coherence in the Situated Cognition Debate: What Computationalism Cannot Offer to a Future Post-Cognitivist Science. In press, Adapative Behavior.

  • Casper, Mark-Oliver; Nyakatura, John A.; Pawel, Anja; Reimer, Christina; Schubert, Torsten; Lauschke, Marion: The Movement-Image Compatibility Effect: Embodiment Theory Interpretations of Motor Resonance with Digitized Photographs, Drawings, and Paintings, in: Frontiers in Psychology - Perception Science, Vol. 9/Article 991 (2018), doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00991

  • Casper, Mark-Oliver: Long Term Epistemic Actions, in: AVANT. Trends in Interdisciplinary Studies, Vol. VIII, 1 (2017), pp. 119-130.

Articles (under review)

  • Casper, Mark-Oliver; Haueis, Philipp (under review): Stuck in Between. A Dilemma for Phenomenological Explanations and Phenomenology’s Role in Experimental Practice

  • Casper, Mark-Oliver; Artese, Flavio (under review): A Methodological Response to the Motley Crew Argument. Explaining Cognitive Phenomena through Enactivism and Ethology

  • Casper, Mark-Oliver (under review): A Provisional Guide to a 4E Methodology

  • Casper, Mark-Oliver (under review): High-Level Cognition and Tuned Fit. An Enactivist Model for the Scaling-Up Problem (under review: Cognitive Systems Research)

  • Keller, Valerie; Casper, Mark-Oliver; Binder, Niklas; Dreyer, Felix; Friedemann, Pulvermüller; Nyakatura A., John (under review): The Influence of the Motor Cortex on the Perception of Movement in Static Images - a Replication and Extension of the Movement-Image Compatibility Effect (MICE)

  • Casper, M.-O., Haueis, Philipp (2021): “Stuck in between. Phenomenology´s Explanatory Dilemma and Its Role in Experimental Practice”. Talk at the Hybrid Conference “Reassessing the Relationship between Explanation and Phenomenolgy”, University of Leipzig (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2021): “Ethology and 4Es Methodological Challenges”. Pre-recorded Talk at the Hybrid Conference “CILC5, 5th International Conference on Interactivity, Language & Cognition: Integrating Quantitative and Qualitative Methods in the Cognitive and Language Sciences”, University of Warsaw (Poland), 16th September (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2021): “Situierte Kognition und der neu-mechanistische Ansatz“. Invited talk at the Institute of Philosophy, University Bern (Switzerland), 22nd April (German)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2021): “A Provisional Guide to a 4E Methodology”. Talk at the Workshop “Methodology of Situated Cognition Research”, University of Kassel (Germany), 3rd March (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2021): “Steps Towards a Methodology of Situated Cognition Research”. Talk at the Philosophy of Cognitive Science Research Seminar (Prof. Milkowski, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy Sciences) “Philosophical Alliances in Cognitive Science. The Case of Pragmatism and Enactivism”, University of Warsaw (Poland), 12th February (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2020): “A Social Enactivist Approach to the Scaling-Up Problem”. Talk at the Workshop “Philosophical Alliances in Cognitive Science. The Case of Pragmatism and Enactivism”, University of Kassel (Germany), 10th-11th December (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2020): “A Social Enactivist Approach to the Scaling-Up Problem”. Talk at the Workshop “Philosophical Alliances in Cognitive Science. The Case of Pragmatism and Enactivism”, University of Kassel (Germany), 10th-11th December (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2020): “Maintaining Coherence in the Situated Cognition Debate. The Case of Computationalism and Post-Cognitivism”. Talk at the Workshop “Please Restart Revolution? Computational Post-Cognitivism PROs & CONs”, University of Kassel (Germany), 5th-6th November (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2018): “Enaktivismus und das Problem höher-stufiger Kognition“. Invited for Talk at the University Stuttgart, Institute for Philosophy (“Forschungskolloquium”), 26. Juni (German)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2018): “Putting Neo-Pragmatist Flesh to the Bones of Enactivism. How Enactivists Can Answer the Scaling Up Problem”. Talk at the Conference “Naturally Evolving Mind”, University Wollongong (Australia), 20.-23. February (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2017): “Scaling All the Way Up”. Talk for Research Group “Embodiment and Images”, Cluster of Excellence Image Knowledge Gestaltung, Humboldt University Berlin (Germany), 02. October (English/German)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2017): “What Is Social Enactivism?” Talk at COSTECH Lab for the CRED (Cognition Research and Enaction Design) Research Group, Sorbonne Universités/Université de Technologie de Compiègne (France), 25. September (English)

  • Casper, M.-O./Nyakatura, J./Pawel, A./Lauschke, M. (2017): “The Movement-Image Compatibility Effect”. Talk at Colloquium of Max-Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, Frankfurt a. M. (Germany), 20. September (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2017): “Neo-Pragmatism, Enactivism, and the Scaling Problem”. Talk at the Conference “The Pragmatist Turn and Embodied Cognition. Habit and Experience at the Crossroads between Pragmatism, Neuroscience, and Social Ontology”, University Parma (Italy), 07. April (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2016): “Instituting Minds and Metaplasticity”. Talk for the Mind and Cognition Group, University Edinburgh, School for Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences (Scotland), 10. Juni (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2015): “Unbelievable Problems. How to Deal with Inferences and Beliefs in Situated Cognition Theories”. Talk at Conference “Situating Cognition: Agency, Affect and Extension“, University of Warsaw (Poland), 15.-18. October (English)

  • Casper, M.-O. (2015): Talk at Seminar at the Retreat of the Cluster of Excellence “Image Knowledge Gestaltung. An Interdisciplinary Laboratory”. Title: “What is a Body Schema?”, Templin (Germany), 01. Feburary (German) 

  • Casper, M.-O. (2014): “Getting Organized. On Organization and Autopoiesis”. At Workshop “On Strange Tools” organized by Dr. Sabine Marienberg and Prof. Alva Noë, supported by Cluster of Excellence Image Knowledge Gestaltung. At Interdisciplinary Laboratory, Humboldt University Berlin (Germany), 30. September (English)