Cognitive Science 0211 - Language, Space and the Absurd

This course will explore how language and space can lead to an intensely private experience that can overflow our efforts to compass it in rational systems of thought. This is sometimes called "absurdism". We will explore this notion by first considering the literary dark magician, Daniil Kharms, whose work was censored due to it being absurd. We will analyze his work through Discourse Coherence Theory, which provides a framework for analyzing the commonsense reasoning that humans engage in when attempting to interpret language. We will then extend this framework to space. We will explore: (a) the Kern Center, (b) Johannesburg's 54-story monument, Ponte City and (c) William Kentridge's examination of the absurd as "one of the ways we generate knowledge," in relation to Gogol's The Nose. We will use these spaces to argue that absurdism varies across social situations by correlating both complex linguistic and architectural patterns with social structures. (This course is sponsored by the MacArthur and Kern Center grants.)

Mind, Brain, and Information Independent Work Quantitative Skills Students are expected to spend approximately 6-8 hours of preparation and work outside of class time.