PhD in Philosophy: Concept Formation in Humans and Animals (EXPIRED)

At the Institute of Philosophy II of the Ruhr-University in Bochum a grant for a PhD student is offered under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Albert Newen (Philosophy). The grant is connected with a research project concerning “Concept Formation in Humans and Animals”.

The area of research is the Philosophy of Mind and Language. The dissertation could be developed in the area of discussing questions like to following:

• What does it mean to possess concepts?
• To which extend are concepts embodied?
• Do we possess different kinds of representation involved when contrasting everyday concepts (like ball, puppet) with abstract or scientific concepts (like justice, gen, atom)?
• Concepts are building blocks of thoughts and they are expressed by linguistic terms: how can we adequately characterize singular thoughts?
• Concepts are also used in belief ascriptions: how do we account for idiosyncratic ways of understanding a concept and the public understanding of concepts in a belief ascription? 

Preconditions:

The applicants are expected to have an excellent M.A. (or Staatsexamen degree) in Philosophy. They should have a very good expertise in the area of Philosophy of Mind or Philosophy of Language and good expertise in at least one of the following areas: Cognitive Psychology, Behavioral Biology, Artificial Intelligence or Brain Research. The applicant must not speak German at the time of application but be willing to learn German such that everyday conversation can be realized soon in German. Candidates should be prepared to participate in weekly meetings of the research group of Prof. Newen.

The grant can start at 1st of May 2012 (not later than 1st of August 2012). The grant of 1.200 Euro is available for a period of three years (with a test period of one year). Please submit your applications with the usual documents (CV; copies of all certificates; a list of publications, talks, conference attended and teaching experience – but without copies of your writings) via email until 24th of March 2012 to (any paper submissions cannot be send back): 
                      

Prof. Dr. Albert Newen            

Institut für Philosophie, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universitätsstr. 150, D- 44791 Bochum