Colloquium - Sara Aronowitz: "What Makes a Thought the Same?"

Sara Aronowitz will present work in progress with Judy Kim (American University), where they consider how thoughts are reindentified over time. One answer is that we identify thoughts by their content. A second is that thoughts are "tagged" with a metacognitive label that identifies them irrespective of content. Aronowitz and Kim argue for a different answer that combines elements of both these extremes. In answering this question, they hope to expand on an idea from the work of Lila Gleitman on the relationship between language and thought.

Professor Aronowitz studies learning and memory in humans, machines, and idealized thinkers. She holds a BA in Philosophy and Slavic Studies from the University of Toronto and a PhD in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. Her research encompasses various areas within the field of Philosophy, specifically focusing on how cognitive processes influence understanding in complex scenarios.