CBI Seminar: On collective representations

Speakers: discussion led by Amanda Seed (School of Psychology and Neuroscience), Derek Ball (Department of Philosophy), Josep Call (School of Psychology and Neuroscience) and Gabriel Ramos-Fernandez (National Autonomous University of Mexico)

These sessions were prompted by the idea, discussed during previous seminar sessions, that a group might use a collective representation to interact with the environment. For example, in a colony of ants, the pheromone trail itself, as a dynamic pattern that grows and shrinks according to the interaction of the colony with the environment, might be considered as a representation of the foraging environment. No single ant may have this representation (or any part of it) in its mind, but for the group as a whole it functions as a representation of where food is in the environment at any given moment. In these sessions we will explore the possible existence of collective representations in various systems, as viewed from different disciplines, including philosophy, psychology and biology. Following a short presentation of these views, we will discuss examples of collective behaviour which might or might not be based on such collective representations, as well as their essential features.

Readings:
Millikan, R. G. 2000. Naturalizing intentionality. In: Proceedings of the 20th World Congress of Philosophy 9:83-90.
Gordon, D. M. 2023. Collective behavior in relation with changing environments: Dynamics, modularity, and agency. Evolution & Development, 25(6), 430-438.