During the past decade, neuroscience has made enormous progress with regard to the question of how humans and non-human primates perceive the intentional dimension of actions. The Valente Center for the Arts and Sciences at Bentley University is hosting a one-day conference, Mirror Neurons and Social Cognition, on Thursday, April 8, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in LaCava Room 305B, 175 Forest Street, Waltham, Mass. The free workshop will bring together philosophers of mind and neuroscientists to discuss the relevance of mirror neurons in social cognition. Register by April 5 to Axel Seemann, associate professor of philosophy at Bentley University (aseemann@bentley.edu).

"Of key importance has been the discovery of mirror neurons, which makes it possible to tackle persistent philosophical problems, most notably the problem of other minds from an empirically informed perspective," Seemann notes.  

Featured topics and speakers include:

• Bodies in Action through the Looking Glass: Corrado Sinigaglia, associate professor of philosophy of science, University of Milan
• The Normative Aspect of Embodied Cognition in Action: Erik Rietveld, fellow in philosophy, Harvard University
• Interaction: Stephen Shepherd, Neuroscience Institute, Princeton University
• That Intention in Your Eyes. Mirror Neurons, Mind Reading and Joint Attention: Massimiliano Cappuccio, Valente Postdoctoral Fellow, Bentley University; commentators Erik Rietveld, fellow in philosophy, Harvard University; and Axel Seemann, associate professor of philosophy, Bentley University
• Joint Attention and Attentional Capture: Axel Seemann, associate professor of philosophy, Bentley University; commentators Berislav Marusic, assistant professor of philosophy, Brandeis University; and Massimiliano Cappuccio, Valente Postdoctoral Fellow