proclaiming that in order to make sense of our current predicament living in a post-truth world, we should take note of “two fundamental things about what it means to think and talk like a human”. Firstly, there is our vulnerability to all forms of bias and distortion. And secondly, there is our capacity to (at least sometimes) outsmart such bias and distortion by deliberate effort and reasoning. The aim of the workshop is to…" swapexcerpt="" swaptitle="Read Less"]

Last november, the Guardian published an article^[1] proclaiming that in order to make sense of our current predicament living in a post-truth world, we should take note of “two fundamental things about what it means to think and talk like a human”. Firstly, there is our vulnerability to all forms of bias and distortion. And secondly, there is our capacity to (at least sometimes) outsmart such bias and distortion by deliberate effort and reasoning. The aim of the workshop is to shed light on the interplay of both these features. Although we have gained important insights from dual-process approaches to cognition, roughly distinguishing implicit and explicit processes (Evans, 2003; Frankish, 2016; Hassin, Aarts, Eitam, Custers, & Kleiman, 2009; Strack & Deutsch, 2015), what remains unclear is how human beings as persons can relate to these different features of their own existence. After all, implicit cognition does not only lead to biases: it is an invaluable feature without which our everyday life would be unbearable. And although our capacity for explicit reasoning is the motor of science, it all too often leads us astray. So the question is: can we ‘employ’ one form of cognition in order to correct the excesses of the other – and if so, from what perspective can we do that? In this workshop, we will address these questions from both psychological and philosophical perspectives. The workshop is open to everyone interested in reasoning, human cognition and current debates on post-truth.

Confirmed speakers:

Dr. Ruud Custers (Utrecht)

Prof. Shira Elqayam (Leicester)

Prof. Jan de Houwer (Gent)

Dr. Annemarie Kalis (Utrecht)

Prof. Agnes Moors (Gent)

Prof. Lisa Osbeck (West Virginia)

Prof. Marc Slors (Nijmegen)

Prof. Thomas Sturm (Barcelona)

Prof Åsa Wikforss (Stockholm)

Registration: Participation and lunch are free, but spaces are limited. Please register by sending an e-mail to Annemarie Kalis: A.Kalis@uu.nl