The Human Mind and its Complexities Radboud University

Overview

The human mind is complex and diverse. This Research Master’s is aimed at better understanding the human mind by exploring its complexities from a philosophical perspective. The master focuses on the mind’s social-cultural nature and addresses a rich variety of questions such as:  

• Why is culture constitutive of human minds?
• How can we differentiate mental disorder from other problems and conditions?
• What do we do when we communicate?
• How do texts represent people’s perspectives?
• How does AI compare with human capacities?
• Should we attribute intelligence to deep learning systems?
• What is the nature of explanation in psychiatry, cognitive neuroscience, behavioural, social and political sciences?
• What is the nature of conspiracy theories? Why do people believe such theories?
• Can we ever explain consciousness?

To answer these questions you will build on and further develop ideas from the philosophy of mind, language and science, from the analytic tradition but also from other approaches such as phenomenology and in close interaction with the empirical sciences. You will train the skills that are needed for a career as a philosophical researcher, such as writing for academic journals and presenting research at academic events.

Future career opportunities

This programme is designed for students who wish to acquire the skills needed for a career in research, either in academia or elsewhere. The training you receive in conducting academic philosophical research will give you a head start in a search for a PhD position, but your analytical, conceptual and investigative skills also open up a wider range of career opportunities. 

In recent years around 40% of graduates have chosen to continue in academia by pursuing a PhD position (with a success rate of nearly 90%). Many others have chosen to apply their skills elsewhere, in government, journalism, teaching, think tanks, NGOs, IT, consultancy and as strategists, researchers, or policy makers in a host of other fields. 

Your network of Research Master’s alumni and the reputation of the philosophy departments at Radboud University will definitely serve you well, whichever career path you choose. 

Research

This specialisation is offered by the researchers of the Center for Cognition, Culture and Language, who work in the fields of philosophy of mind, language, AI and science. Specifically, the Center identifies three research themes at the intersection of these disciplines:

• Cognition, culture and sociality: What is the nature of folk-psychology? And can we view culture as a precondition for—rather than merely a product of—human cognition?
• Convention, commitment and perspective: Can linguistic utterances be understood in terms of convention and commitment? And how is perspective represented in language?
• Philosophy of psychiatry and the human sciences: What is the nature of explanation in psychiatry, cognitive neuroscience and social and political sciences?

There is considerable overlap between these themes and much of the Center’s research output contributes to more than one theme. Most research is conducted in collaboration with academic partners and professionals in the Netherlands (e.g., University of Groningen, Utrecht University, Utrecht Medical Center, VU Amsterdam, Dimence Mental Health Institute) and abroad (e.g., Cambridge University, University of Glasgow, University of Warwick and Lund University). The Center has high impact on society through public activities and the training of professionals. 

Accreditation

This programme is accredited by the NVAO (the Dutch-Flemish accreditation organisation).