Seeing Reason ― Image and Language in Learning to Think

Seeing Reason is an interdisciplinary study of a central topic in cognitive science: how does the mind respond to different kinds of representation of the same information especially when learning, reasoning, and communicating. It uses philosophical, logical, linguistic, psychological, and educational methods to explore this topic, reporting theories, observations, and arguments developed during several years research. Though the focus is on fundamental cognitive theories of human capacities, the issues are closely related to intensely practical issues about the teaching and learning of reasoning and communication skills. Along the way it examines why the human mind has so evolved, the relationship between private language and public thought, and integrates cognitive and social accounts of communication.

Psychology and philosophy at Oxford. PhD at Rockefeller University in New York. Taught at Liverpool University before moving to Edinburgh to the Center for Cognitive Science in 1983. Now Director of the Human Communication Research Centre.

ESRC Senior Research Fellow 1999-2002

Chairman-elect of Cognitive Science Society 2002-2003

Research interests are in the cognitive science of human reasoning and communication, especially thelearning of reasoning and communication skills. What is the relation between logical foundations and empirical psychology of human representation and reasoning capacities? How can cognitive and social accounts of human reasoning and communication be integrated?