Seeing and Understanding the World Differently

Research on human cognition typically assumes that human beings experience, categorize and model the world in terms of objects. Just like classical Western logic, most philosophical and empirical conceptions of the world and the self rely on object-centered categorization frameworks. While this may seem to be a rather detached theoretical observation at first sight, some very fundamental ideas about the world crucially depend on it.

Conducted in the form of moderated panel discussions, individual sessions of the series will be devoted to theories of time and space, cognition, action, perception, language, art, aesthetics, society and self, developed in physics, philosophy, religious studies and several other fields that work on “alternative”, often relational models of understanding the world and increasingly move away from the predominantly object-centered approaches that still dominate in “the West”. Juxtaposing perspectives from the past with modern systems of knowledge, this lecture series will present a scientific conversation between historically oriented, theoretical and empirical fields, working on different aspects of human thought, perception and behaviour.

Most of the lectures will be held in English.

Several lectures of this lecture series were recorded. You can find them on SWITCHcast:
Podcasts Ringvorlesung "Die Welt anders sehen"