Truth, Rationality, Cognition, and Music (Philosophical Studies Series, 102)

A speech for the defence in a Paris murder trial, a road-safety slogan, Hobbes' political theory; each appeals to reason of a kind, but it remains an oblique and rhetoricalldnd. Each relies on comparisons rather than on direct statements, and none can override or supersede the conclusions of ethical reasoning proper. Nevertheless, just as slogans may do more for road safety than the mere recital of accident statistics, or of the evidence given at coroners' inquests, so the arguments of a Hobbes or a Bentham may be of greater practical effect than the assertion of genuinely ethical or political statements, however true and relevant these may be. Stephen Toulmin, Reason in Ethics, 1950. The International Colloquium on Cognitive Science (ICCS), held in Donostia - San Sebastian every two years since 1989, has become one of the most important plazas for cognitive scientists in Europe to present the results of their research and to exchange ideas. The seventh edition, co-organized as usual by the Institute for Logic, Cognition, Language, and Information (ILCLI) and the Department of Logic and Philosophy of Science, both from the University of the Basque Country, took place from May 9 to 12, 200 1, addressing the following main topics: 1. Truth: Epistemology and Logic. 2. Rationality in a Social Setting. 3. Music, Language, and Cognition. Vlll TRUTH, RATIONALITY, COGNITION, AND MUSIC 4. The Order of Discourse: Logic, Pragmatics, and Rhetoric.

The International Colloquium on Cognitive Science, held in Donostia - San Sebastián every two years since 1989, is one of the main regular meeting points for a diversity of researchers in this exciting multi-disciplinary area of inquiry. This volume brings together some of the most important contributions to that colloquium. Besides the various interdisciplinary origins and standpoints of the participating researchers, the volume also reflects the richness, fruitfulness, and great miscellany of research in cognitive science today. In Truth, Rationality, Cognition, and Music, a wide variety of topics that are crucial to human beings, are addressed from a cognitive perspective by some of the world's leading scientists. Philosophers, linguists, logicians, psychologists, musicians, and anyone interested in what cognitive science has to say about these topics, should not miss it.