The Department of Philosophy hosts the 8th International Conference on Language, Culture and Mind, the ecologies of language and mind, from July 17 through July 19.

Human natural languages are biologically based, cognitively motivated, affectively rich, socially shared, grammatically organized symbolic systems. They provide the principal semiotic means for the complexity and diversity of human cultural life.

As has long been recognized, no single discipline or methodology is sufficient to capture all the dimensions of this complex and multifaceted phenomenon, which lies at the heart of what it is to be human. In the recent past, perception and cognition have been the basis of general unifying models of language and language activity. However, a genuine integrative perspective must also incorporate the intersubjective dimension of cultural symbols, cultural norms, and cultural practices.

Language, Culture and Mind (LCM) conferences articulate and discuss approaches to diverse genres of language activity which aim to understand their cultural, social, cognitive and bodily foundations. LCM conferences welcome contributions from scholars and scientists in anthropology, biology, linguistics, philosophy, psychology, semiotics, semantics, discourse analysis, cognitive and neuroscience, and from other disciplines, who wish both to impart their insights and findings and learn from other disciplines.