The domains of research:

1. The structure of argumentation  (i.e. the structure of selected types of argumentation which are used in everyday, social and scientific discourse). 

2. The forms of mental representations which subserve the process of argumentation and the construction of propositional knowledge.

3. The cognitive mechanisms of argumentation (e.g. Is the process of argumentation realized by a computational mechanism or by some other mechanism? Are different types of argumentation realized by different cognitive mechanisms or by the same mechanism?

4. Cognitive architecture for intelligent agents  (Modeling of dynamic reasoning).

5. The logical mind (in the sense that the cognitive system which includes it has the capacity for discovering or constructing axioms and the laws of logic, proving theorems, and understanding logical rules. The question is: how does the logical mind work? Do we have any encoded structures which are needed for logical thinking (i.e. for inferences or following rules) or do we acquire them by learning?  Do we have any pre-wired logical rules, or are they learned? Is our capacity for logical thinking innate or acquired?).  

6. Brains, logics and computational models (How can brains, using massively parallel computations, perform logical thinking?).

7. Practical argumentation (The mechanisms of practical argumentation, in which conclusions are not strictly inferred from logical rules but which take into account various and unstable situational contexts. Two types of dynamic models of argumentation: (i) positive ones, in which the interlocutors are treated as reliable – models of trust, and (ii) negative ones, in which the agent is capable of purposefully applying false premises in order to instill erroneous beliefs in his of her interlocutors, or he or she uses other kinds of unreliable strategy – models of deception.).

Conferences
(under the auspices of the Polish Society for Cognitive Science)

15-17 May 2008
Argumentation as a Cognitive Process

13-15 May 2010
Argumentation as a Cognitive Process.
Neurodynamics, Logic and Models of Argumentation    
with related events: Logic in Cognitive Science

• Joe Cruz (Department of Philosophy, Williams College, Willimastown Mass., USA)
• Jacques Dubucs (CNRS Paris Univ. I, IHPST/Ministère de la Recherche, France)
• Wlodzislaw Duch (Department of Applied Informatics, NCU, Poland)
  
• Pawel Kawalec (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, Poland)
• Ryszard Wójcicki (Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Poland)

Call for papers. Those who wish to present a paper are kindly asked to send the abstract (approx.200 words, no more than 500 words) of a paper to our conference secretary: anitapacholik@wp.pl
Deadline of extended submission is: March 31, 2010 (The number of papers is limited) Standard oral presentation papers: 20 minute oral presentation (plus 10 mins discussion);