THIS EVENT REQUIRES ADDITIONAL BOOKING

According to the neurodiversity paradigm, neurodevelopmental conditions like autism and ADHD are not best understood as disorders but rather as different forms of mental organization that should be allowed to flourish.

Join Dr Kurt Sylvan, Associate Professor in Philosophy at the University of Southampton, to explore the neurodiversity paradigm with the help of tools from philosophy, and in particular through a philosophical activity called 'conceptual engineering'. One kind of conceptual engineering involves inventing new concepts that provide a better understanding of some phenomenon than the concepts that are conventionally used to understand it. Although neurodiversity advocates do not officially describe themselves as conceptual engineers, this workshop shows that some of their most important ideas involve conceptual engineering of this kind.

After an introductory presentation on neurodiversity, conceptual engineering, and their relation to the science of the mind, you will look at some successful examples of conceptual engineering by neurodiversity advocates. After discussing these examples, you can try doing some conceptual engineering of their own, in several structured activities organized around some further examples, followed by general discussion. You will also consider how to engineer concepts not only for better understanding other minds, but also for revealing overlooked alternative possibilities for social interaction and organization at the micro- and macro-scales.