We are very happy to have a "real life" guest seminar by Prof. Ivana Bianchi, co-hosted with English Linguistics. As can been seen from the abstract below, and the references, Ivana and her colleagues practice a form of applied phenomenology that is a close relative to the Husserlian approach that is at the core of cognitive semiotics, and we look forward to discussing possible overlaps and future directions. Welcome from 15:00 for introductions, to the room or the zoom link. We are going for dinner after the seminar - so please let me know by Nov 4 if you intended to join!

The experimental phenomenology of perception - inspired by and connected to Gestalt Psychology, despite some specific theoretical differences -is part of an important tradition in research in the field of psychology in Italy. Paolo Bozzi (1930-2003) was one of the most brilliant representatives of this school. The English translation of 18 of his papers (Bianchi & Davies, 2018), commented on by contemporary psychologists and philosophers, gives an idea of the richness and complexity of Bozzi’s approach. His perspective has inspired the research that I’ve been conducting in collaboration with Ugo Savardi and other researchers since my graduation. This approach has certainly not been part of the mainstream in the last 30 years, but I belong to the group of people who have faithfully tried to keep it alive, optimistic that there will be better times ahead. Has that moment arrived? There have been positive reactions in contemporary cognitive sciences. These have led us to reflect on the role that the study of perceptual experiences has in various domains of contemporary cognitive science and on the question of how a phenomenological approach to investigating the relationship between perception and cognition might contribute to current research (Bianchi, Actis Grosso, Ball, 2023; Bianchi & Burro, 2022), asking questions such as the following: How do perceptual experiences contribute to the way in which we conceptualize experiences? How is a perceptual experience reflected in linguistic configurations? In what ways does perception influence people’s judgments of the similarity, diversity or opposition of two objects, or the perceived numerosity of a set of objects, or the perception of their aesthetic value? In what ways does perception influence people’s reasoning processes and memories? Taken as a whole, the answers to such questions give us an exciting picture of the many directions in which a careful analysis of perceptual experiences can stimulate current experimental research and hopefully contribute towards an enrichment of the debate related to embodied/grounded cognition (e.g. Barsalou 2020) as well as to discussions on the role of phenomenology within the cognitive sciences (e.g. Gallagher and Zahavi 2012). 

Barsalou, L. W. (2020). Challenges and opportunities for grounding cognition. Journal of Cognition, 3(1), 31. http://doi.org/10.5334/joc.116. 

Bianchi, I. & Burro, R. (2022). The Experimental Phenomenology of Perception. A Collective Reflection on the Present and Future of this Approach. Gestalt Theory, 44(3) 279-288. https://doi.org/10.2478/gth-2022-0018 

Bianchi, I., & Davies, R. (Eds.) (2019). Paolo Bozzi’s Experimental Phenomenology. London and New York: Routledge.

Bianchi, I., Actis-Grosso, R., & Ball, L.J. (2024). Grounding Cognition in Perceptual Experience. Journal of Intelligence, 12 (Special Issue), https://doi.org/10.3390. 

Gallagher, S. & Zahavi, D. (2012). The Phenomenological Mind. Routledge.