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Alfredo Vernazzani

@alfredovernazzani.bsky.social

240 followers 390 following 31 posts

Researcher at Hanse-Wissenschaftskolleg. Phil of perception, mental representations; Aesthetics; Epistemology of understanding. Antifascist activist at ANPI.

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · Aug 10

Mark your calendar!
I'm organizing a symposium on laws of appearance with @neddo.bsky.social (Ned Block) and EJ Green.

October 26 from 4:15 - 6:15 pm (CEST)
@ispsm.bsky.social

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Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

Chaz Firestone @chazfirestone.bsky.social · 1d

This is a big one! A 4-year writing project over many timezones, arguing for a reimagining of the influential "core knowledge" thesis.

Led by @daweibai.bsky.social, we argue that much of our innate knowledge of the world is not "conceptual" in nature, but rather wired into perceptual processing. 👇

Screenshot of a paper abstract:

“Core knowledge” refers to a set of cognitive systems that underwrite early representations of the physical and social world, appear universally across cultures, and likely result from our genetic endowment. Although this framework is canonically considered as a hypothesis about early emerging conception — how we think and reason about the world — here we present an alternative view: that many such representations are inherently perceptual in nature. This “core perception” view explains an intriguing (and otherwise mysterious) aspect of core-knowledge processes and representations: that they also operate in adults, where they display key empirical signatures of perceptual processing. We first illustrate this overlap using recent work on “core physics”, the domain of core knowledge concerned with physical objects, representing properties such as persistence through time, cohesion, solidity, and causal interactions. We review evidence that adult vision incorporates exactly these representations of core physics, while also displaying empirical signatures of genuinely perceptual mechanisms, such as rapid and automatic operation on the basis of specific sensory inputs, informational encapsulation, and interaction with other perceptual processes. We further argue that the same pattern holds for other areas of core knowledge, including geometrical, numerical, and social domains. In light of this evidence, we conclude that many infant results appealing to precocious reasoning abilities are better explained by sophisticated perceptual mechanisms shared by infants and adults. Our core-perception view elevates the status of perception in accounting for the origins of conceptual knowledge, and generates a range of ready-to-test hypotheses in developmental psychology, vision science, and more.

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · 2d

I have just seen the link, and downloaded the book. I'll read it over the weekend and let you know!

Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · 2d

I'd be interested in reading it and possibly giving comments!

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Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

Sérgio Farias de Souza Filho @sergiosouza.bsky.social · 2d

@alfredovernazzani.bsky.social joining us in our Brazilian Philosophy of Mind Research Group to talk about laws of appearance!

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · 2d

Don't miss this workshop on Scientific Understanding organized by @danielkostic.bsky.social , @mmilkowski.bsky.social and Anna Michalska.

You can submit an abstract by January 2026. Fibd out more infos here:

philevents.org/event/show/1...

Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 8d

Jane Goodall, who died Wednesday at 91, was not just a pioneering scientist, but also an expert at wielding the power of fame, Michelle Nijhuis writes.

Jane Goodall’s Second-Greatest Talent

She knew how to wield her fame to protect the animals she loved.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

The Royal Institute of Philosophy @triphilosophy.bsky.social · 15d

If you're not outraged about #AI, you're not paying attention: #Philosophy in the time of techno-fascism. Book tickets for this free public lecture by Professor Alice Crary at University College Dublin:
docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

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Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

Adriana Alcaraz Sánchez @adrianaalsa.bsky.social · 15d

This last year turned out quite fruitful for my 'wider-audience articles' writing. Here's my latest essay, this time responding to an interesting call in SPAM magazine on the 'dreamification' of the internet. www.spamzine.co.uk/post/essay-s...

(ESSAY) 'Sucked in by the dream world' by Adriana Alcaraz Sánchez

Philosopher Adriana Alcaraz Sánchez explores the transformative potential of dreams — from epic dreaming to dream incubation.

www.spamzine.co.uk

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · 18d

It's about what it means to understand someone, my angle is the epistemology of understanding, less about *cognition*. I appreciate the idea of scripts playing a role in social cognition, I'd reflect more on their role in the epistemic success of understanding someone!

Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · 18d

Good, this reminds me that your book is relevant for one of the papers on epistemology I'm writing.

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · 21d

This book is finally out. You'll find there our chapter on "Frames of discovery and the format of cognitive representation" by yours truly and Dimitri Coelho Mollo.

Thanks to @gualtiero.bsky.social for the amazing editirial work!

Beate Krickel @beakr.bsky.social · 21d

😊 So proud this is out now:
"Cognitive ontology in terms of cognitive homology: The role of brain, behavior, and environment for individuating cognitive categories" #philsci #CognitiveNeuroscience

Thanks to @marielgoddu.bsky.social and to @gualtiero.bsky.social!

www.routledge.com/Neurocogniti...

Neurocognitive Foundations of Mind

This volume provides a cohesive and comprehensive case that cognitive neuroscience is maturing into an integrated, interdisciplinary science that is transforming our understanding of the mind. The ris...

www.routledge.com

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Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

Victor Caston @vcaston.bsky.social · 22d

I had kept my academia.edu page active for convenience, but the new Terms of Use are rapacious — they can use all your content for AI. (See below)

Sorry! NO.

Please share and consider.

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Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

Brains @philosophyofbrains.com · 22d

Ruth Millikan: Reply to Alison Spring

Styles of Rationality was written 20 years ago, well prior to any thoughts of (unicepts of) unicepts. The question of Hurley and Nudds’ book Rational Animals? was whether non-human animals were rational in any sense. I would have to think through…

Ruth Millikan: Reply to Alison Spring

Styles of Rationality was written 20 years ago, well prior to any thoughts of (unicepts of) unicepts. The question of Hurley and Nudds’ book Rational Animals? was whether non-human animals were rational in any sense. I would have to think through that again now. It would be important not to allow it to become a verbal issue.I am not sure now of any argument requiring language to be either prior to or coincident with declarative thought.

philosophyofbrains.com

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Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

Philosophy and the Mind Sciences @phimisci.bsky.social · 23d

Call for papers: #PhiMiSci is inviting submissions for a Special Issue on Social Perception, understood as the perception of socially relevant properties in others. It is edited by Géraldine Carranante and Joulia Smortchkova.
Estimated publication date: 2nd quarter of 2027
Deadline: July 1st, 2026.

Call for Papers: Social Perception | Philosophy and the Mind Sciences

Philosophy and the Mind Sciences (PhiMiSci) focuses on the interface between philosophy of mind, psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. PhiMiSci is a peer-reviewed, not-for-profit open-access journal...

philosophymindscience.org

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Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 24d

How neurotypical hegemony reproduces a culture of exclusion—and how to overcome this with love, hope, and solidarity.

We See Things They’ll Never See by Chantelle Jessica Lewis and Jason Arday is out now. Learn more about this pathbreaking book: press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

We See Things They’ll Never See: Love, Hope, and Neurodiversity by Chantelle Jessica Lewis and Jason Arday

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · 27d

Looks great!

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · Sep 7

Soon, I'll have a storage unit, too.. 🙄

Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · Sep 7

Group photo after my talk in Córdoba on "The Puzzle of Aspect Selection: Seeing-as and the Subject's Motivational Structure" — a team of amazing people. Thanks to Mariela Aguilera for hosting me!

Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · Sep 7

Btw, "love" not "loved" 😂

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · Sep 7

I loved all used books, sometimes you find little notes, dedications, etc. They're like a window into an unknown life 🙃

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · Sep 7

New publication alert!

In this paper co-authored by me & Francesco Marchi, we argue that many instances of perceptual learning should be construed as habit-like rather than skill-like.

Find the preprint on PhilPapers:

philpapers.org/rec/VERHFO?f...

Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · Sep 6

Check out the latest entries in the SI of Phil Studies I'm coediting with Federica I. Malfatti:

link.springer.com/collections/...

Understanding: One or Many?

Human beings strive for understanding the world, but what exactly is understanding? This is a challenging question — among other things — because ...

link.springer.com

Reposted by Alfredo Vernazzani

Kieran Setiya @ksetiya.bsky.social · Sep 6

I wrote about poetry and philosophy (again): Under the Net
ksetiya.substack.com/p/analogy

Analogy

Philosophy and poetry are mired in an ancient quarrel, so we’re told—on one side, the pursuit of demystifying truth; on the other, enchanted polyphony. And yet they have one thing in common: each is s...

ksetiya.substack.com

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Alfredo Vernazzani @alfredovernazzani.bsky.social · Sep 5

Congratulations!