The course looks at the relation between language and the human mind/brain. In particular, it studies properties of natural language as parts of a self-contained abstract system and how it is related to the physical human brain as well as to certain aspects of human cognition such as rationality, perceptual and computation capacity. It considers the extent to which individual cognition bears on cultural values of a community and how language expresses those values. Upon completion of the course, the students would understand themselves and the community they are a part of better and be able to interact with each other in a meaningful way.

Apart from selected readings from textbooks and articles, the students would have a chance to work together in small groups on questionnaires polling opinions of human subjects about specific problems. To ensure individual merits, quizzes and written assignments will be given.

Course Aims

This course aims to expose the students to different areas of human cognition connected with rationality, perception, information processing, computation and language. Issues of particular interest of the course are (i) how language is related to the way we approach problems and make choices, (ii) how language is affected by our perception of the world and the consequences for the way we respond to it and (iii) what properties of natural language, as parts of a self-contained abstract system, are related to the physical brain, and (iv) how different cultural values are reflected in language.

The course is interdisciplinary in that it bears on the biological, psychological, linguistic and social aspects of the human life. Understanding these various issues helps us see who we are as human beings and how we interact with each other as a community.