PhD in Philosophy, Science, Cognition, and Semiotics (PSCS)

1. Philosophy and Science Studies
2. Semiotics
3. Cognitive Science

Curriculum 1: Philosophy and Science Studies

The curriculum in Philosophy and Science Studies deals with:
a) aesthetics, regarding the structures of human experience and the question of sensitivity, the expressive practices of taste and the knowledge of different traditions of the Arts;
b) moral philosophy, which includes knowledge and skills relating to human action in its ethical-social, normative, political, anthropological and communicative dimensions;
c) philosophy of law, in its deontological, historical-doctrinal and political dimensions;
d) theoretical philosophy, which concern the activity of thought in its genesis, the structuring of concepts and the different forms of experience, in particular the theory of knowledge, phenomenology, metaphysics, ontology, hermeneutics and religion;
e) logic and philosophy of science, which address the forms of scientific knowledge, logic and natural languages, the representation of knowledge and computation, the methodological and foundational issues specific to the individual sciences;
f) historical-philosophical studies, which include the forms and development of philosophical thought from antiquity to the present day, also extending to political philosophy, philosophy of history, Italian philosophy and the cultural expressions of philosophical doctrines;
g) social studies of science and sociology, inherent in the dynamics of production, dissemination and use of expert knowledge, technological artifacts and socio-technical infrastructures;
h) studies of the history of science and techniques, which aim in a diachronic and synchronic sense at the historical-critical reconstruction of the development of sciences, techniques and scientific institutions, also understood in their social, communicative and gender implications;
i) philosophy of language and mind, which address language as an eminently theoretical object of investigation, also including the most recent trends in cognitive semiotics and analytical philosophy.

Curriculum 2: Semiotics
The educational goals of the Curriculum in Semiotics are to develop theoretical and practical competencies in semiotics both from a theoretical-philosophical perspective, and in terms of their practical-methodological application. In particular, from a theoretical perspective, we shall examine relevant themes related to the development of philosophical and linguistic theories of signs and semiosis, key elements in the history of semiotics, as well as comparisons between different sign systems: linguistic, visual, multimodal, etc. On the application plane, necessary methodological tools will be provided to carry out in depth analyses of different types of textual objects: verbal, visual, behavioral, musical , audiovisual , etc. To this end the principal theoretical and methodological currents characterising the semiotic tradition, from structuralism to interpretational semiotics, will be examined in depth.

Curriculum 3: Cognitive Science

The main research topics of the Curriculum on Cognitive Science are:

• Attention
• Objects and action, affordances
• Role of the body in cognition, sense of body
• Language grounding in the perception, action and emotion systems
• Emotions and sensorimotor system
• Numerical cognition and its relationship with embodied cognition
• Social cognition

Candidates are required to learn to perform experiments in the lab they will have to learn to plan them, to execute them and to analyse the data. They will be required to learn to realise classical behavioral experiments, in which reaction times and errors are recorded. In addition, they will be invited to learn to use at least one of the three instruments that we possess eye tracking, motion tracking or TMS. In order to discuss with candidates the experiments they are conducting, from their planning to the data analysis, we will organise a lab meeting to be held every month. Candidates and professors will discuss together research projects, and candidates will have the opportunity to learn how to present a study. We will also organise periodical meetings to discuss some scientific papers. Candidates will be invited to present to the others an overview of the main topics and open issues in their area. Compared to other Doctoral curricula in Cognitive Science, our Curriculum is characterised by a higher attention paid to psychology (especially cognitive psychology and communication psychology).