Cognitive Science

Arising as a named field in the middle of the 20th century, Cognitive Science (CogSci) is the interdisciplinary investigation of the mind. It seeks to understand the nature of cognition (in a broad sense) by making use of a variety of disciplinary lenses, based on the belief that no single academic discipline can give a full or complete explanation of the mind. As with many interdisciplinary endeavors, the full scope of disciplinary membership varies from program to program, but most accounts attribute central roles to six co-equal disciplines: Anthropology, Linguistics, Philosophy, Psychology, Neuroscience, and Computer Science. Aspects of each of these disciplines-for example, philosophy of mind or the computer science subfield of artificial intelligence-attempt to investigate such mental phenomena as belief acquisition, language development, evolution of consciousness, or the relationships among art, culture, and cognition, to name only a few topics.

Pitzer Advisers: C. Fought, T. Justus, B. Keeley, D. Moore, C. Strauss.

Cognitive Science Major