Thinking Beyond the Human: On Animals, A. I. and Others
“Animals”, wrote the influential anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss, “are good to think with.” Animals are especially good to think with when what we’re trying to think about is ourselves. For it's when we reflect on our similarities and differences with animals that our ideas about “human nature” face perhaps their severest challenge. Take any candidate for that “nature” you like—consciousness, cognition, language use, sensibility, culture, ethics, etc.—and observe how quickly your understanding of that notion will shift, complicate, get all snarled up, when you begin to consider whether it can be extended to the lives of chimpanzees, dogs, or sea lions.
Animals have always been among us, prompting these perplexities. But they are not the only source of external pressure upon our ideas of human nature. We have long been drawn to visions of supernatural or extraterrestrial modes of intelligence—angels, gods and aliens—and worried about what limitations they might reveal in ourselves. More recently, robots, computers and emergent networks have posed similar questions, and with a greater practical urgency. These systems are products of human ingenuity, built by us expressly to simulate, perhaps even to improve upon, our capacities of thought, perception and agency. But are artificial intelligences only facsimiles, or are they the real deal? Are they merely sophisticated implements, the latest iteration in a roughly 300,000-year history of tool use by homo sapiens? Or are they our potential replacements?
The 2019 Summer Research Institute offers undergraduates an opportunity to pursue independent research projects on questions about the nature, status, and significance of nonhuman forms of intelligence, thought and agency. The organizing faculty work in English, philosophy and linguistics. But we welcome students interested in pursuing projects from any humanistic or social-scientific angle, including, but not limited, to history, literature, film, art history, philosophy, music, linguistics, anthropology, political science, sociology, the history and philosophy of science, cognitive science or psychology. Participating students will partner with Institute faculty mentors on collaborative research work, or pursue independent inquiries relevant to the Summer Institute theme under the guidance of their faculty. Students’ original research may fuel their writing in genres ranging from traditional scholarly monographs to literary nonfiction, from philosophical essays to poetry and screenwriting. Their research may also furnish significant groundwork for individual BA projects.
Objectives and Learning Outcomes: Students will learn how to conduct original research on a wide array of primary, secondary and reference materials, using tools humanists employ across disciplines. They will acquire expertise in assessing sources, developing robust research questions and topics, and building scholarly arguments and other persuasive works of disciplined imagination out of evidence provided by primary and secondary material. They will hone the skills required to act as contributing partners in collaborative research enterprises, and as independent investigators pursuing original projects. At the conclusion of the 2019 Summer Institute, students will have completed a substantive project that showcases their engagement with primary and secondary materials, and their critical thinking and writing around the theme of the Institute. A closing symposium and exhibition will afford students the opportunity to present their work publicly.