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Rethinking development: introduction to a special section of phenomenology and the cognitive sciences

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Abstract

This introduction to a special section of Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences reviews some historical and contemporary results concerning the role of development in cognition and experience, arguing that at this juncture development is an important topic for research in phenomenology and the cognitive sciences. It then suggests some ways in which the concept of development is in need of rethinking, in relation to the phenomena, and reviews the contributions that articles in the section make toward this purpose.

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Acknowledgements

The papers in this section grow out of discussions at an interdisciplinary workshop on this topic that I convened at Concordia University in 2013. That workshop was supported by an Insight Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; a grant from the Office of the Vice-Provost Research and Graduate Studies at Concordia; and a Chair Research Grant from the Dean of Arts and Sciences at Concordia. I would like to thank these granting agencies, and also Sarah McLay and Emily Wilkins for their work as research assistants supporting this workshop. Finally I would like to thank other participants who presented at the workshop: John Protevi, Susan Oyama, Linda B. Smith, Ehab Abouheif, and particularly thank the latter three, for their open-mindedness and generosity in teaching phenomenologists new things about development.

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Morris, D. Rethinking development: introduction to a special section of phenomenology and the cognitive sciences . Phenom Cogn Sci 16, 565–569 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11097-017-9529-8

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