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 titled “Concept Formation in Humans and Animals”: The area of research is the Philosophy of Mind and Language. The dissertation should be developed on the basis of research questions such as the following:
- What does it mean to possess concepts?
- To which extent are concepts embodied?
- Are 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 the subjective understanding versus the public understanding of concepts in belief ascriptions?
Preconditions: The applicants are expected to have an excellent M.A. (or Staatsexamen degree) in Philosophy. Their area of expertise should be in Philosophy of Mind or Philosophy of Language and they should be familiar with at least one of the following areas: Cognitive Psychology, Behavioral Biology, Artificial Intelligence or Neuroscience.
The applicant need not speak German at the time of application but he or she should be willing to learn German in order to be able to engage in everyday conversations soon. Candidates should be prepared to participate in weekly meetings of the research group of Prof. Newen.
The position is available from 1st of May 2012 (not later than 1st of August 2012). The grant of 1.200 euro/month is available for a period of three years (with an assessment after the first year).
Please submit your applications with the usual documents (CV; copies of all certificates; a list of publications, talks, conferences attended and teaching experience – but without copies of your writings) via email until 24th of March 2012 to (hard copy submissions cannot be returned): albert.newen@rub.de
