Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies

The Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies of Philosophy Department, Moscow State University
Abbreviation MCCS
Established 2009
Purpose Research in the field of Philosophy of Mind, Consciousness Studies, Free Will and Moral Responsibility
Headquarters Russia, US
Location
  • 14A Burdenko St., Moscow, 119121  Russia
Key people
Vadim Vasiliev, Dmitry Volkov, Robert Howell, Patricia Smith Churchland, Paul Churchland, Derk Pereboom
Website hardproblem.ru

The Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies (MCCS) – a scientific organization, which conducts and coordinates domestic and international research on consciousness, the mind-body problem, free will and moral responsibility.[1]

History

The Center was founded in 2009 at the Philosophy Faculty of Moscow State University, on the initiative of Professor Vadim Vasiliev and Dmitry Volkov.

Many leading scientists and scholars have visited Moscow State University and other educational institutions of Russia since 2009 at the invitation of the Center for Consciousness Studies: Scott Soames (University of Southern California), a philosopher of language and scholar of analytic philosophy, visitor in 2009; Timothy Williamson (Oxford University), an expert on epistemology, analytic philosophy, and philosophy of language, 2011; John Searle (University of California, Berkeley), deviser of the Chinese Room thought experiment and defender of biological naturalism about the mental, 2011;[2] Daniel Dennett (co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University), philosopher and cognitive scientist, 2012;[3] Jesse Prinz (distinguished professor at the City University of New York), author of works on consciousness, free will, and experimental philosophy, 2014; Patricia Churchland (University of California at San Diego), the US-Canadian neurophilosopher, 2015;[4] Nicholas Humphrey (Cambridge University), psychologist, theorist of consciousness, and discoverer of blindsight in monkeys, 2015; and Derk Pereboom (Cornell University), the author of works on consciousness and free will, 2016.

An International Conference on 'Problems of consciousness and free will' was held in June 2014 in Greenland under the auspices of the Center for Consciousness Studies.[5] Evaluating the results of this conference, The Guardian pointed out that among the participants were several dozens of the world's most famous thinkers involved in research in the field of consciousness and collaborating with the Center. The author of the Guardian article highlighted David Chalmers,[6] Daniel Dennett[7] and Paul and Patricia Churchland.[4]

In August 2014 the Center organized a summer school 'Free will and moral responsibility' at Moscow State University which was led by Professor John Fischer, a leading expert about the problems of free will and moral responsibility.[8] [9] The Center is planning to hold a second summer school, to be led by Derk Pereboom, on 'Free will and consciousness', in July 2016 in Riga.

The Center also maintains an active website,[10] which contains links to videos of many of the talks by visitors and of other programs sponsored by the Center, including a full set of videos of the Greenland conference. In addition, the website posts topical articles by Russian and other philosophers on questions and events relevant to its intellectual focus.

The Center for Consciousness Studies has, in addition, carried out an extensive activity of publication, including a series of books, Philosophy of Mind. The series contains works by Russian authors and Russian translations of some Western authors:

2012 – Volkov D. The Boston Zombie. The theory of consciousness of Daniel Dennett;

2013 – Ivanov D. The Nature of Phenomenal Consciousness;

2013 – Pinker S. The Stuff of Thought: Language As a Window Into Human Nature (Russian Edition);

2014 – Vasiliev V. Consciousness and Things;

2014 – Chalmers D. The Conscious Mind. (Russian edition).

Management structure

The organization is managed by an academic council and a board of trustees. As of this tade, the council and board consist of:

Summer School

Summer School is an international academic project hosted by Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies in the city of Riga.[11] Graduate students and recent PhDs are invited to submit applications to participate in the summer school.

Further reading

References

  1. MCfCS Staff (11 February 2017). "The Moscow Center for Consciousness Studies: Press, About Us". HardProblem.ru. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  2. Searle, John & MCfCS Staff (April 8, 2013). "Video lectures". Retrieved 11 February 2017 via weebly.com.
  3. 1 2 Burkeman, Oliver (21 January 2015). "Why Can’t the World’s Greatest Minds Solve the Mystery of Consciousness?". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  4. IEET Staff (11 February 2017). "On Prinz (What Can We Learn About Consciousness From Phenomenology and Science?) (16 min)". IEET.org. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  5. Dennett, Daniel (11 February 2017). "Daniel C. Dennett : CV". tufts.edu. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  6. SPTIP Staff (11 February 2017). "Immortality Project". SPTImmortalityProject.com. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  7. MCfCS Staff & Fischer, John M. (30 August 2014). "Интервью с Джоном М. Фишером [Transl., "Interview with John M. Fischer" ]". HardProblem.ru. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  8. MCfCS Staff (11 February 2017). "Center for Consciousness Studies, Home Page". Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  9. SDV Arts Staff (2 August 2016). "Летняя философская школа [Transl., "Summer School of Thought"]". SDVArts.foundation. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  10. Philosophy Commons (11 February 2017). "Free Will and Consciousness—Summer School in Riga, Latvia". Retrieved 11 February 2017 via typepad.com.
  11. PhilEvents.org Staff (11 February 2017). "Free Will and Consciousness". PhilEvents.org. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
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