Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker to speak on the 'stuff of thought'

October 26, 2009

What is the stuff of thought?

Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist at Harvard University, will answer this question during a Monday, Nov. 2, visit to the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. His lecture, "The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature," is part of the College of Letters and Sciences Contemporary Issues Lecture Series.

The event will take place at 7 p.m. in the Young Auditorium and is free and open to everyone.

"Steven Pinker is one of the world's leading cognitive scientists," said Susan Johnson, lecture series coordinator and Political Science Department chair. "He is someone who has adapted his work for a general audience and the topic of his lecture, 'The Stuff of Thought,' is an example of such an adaptation. When we learned we had the opportunity to include Dr. Pinker in this year's lecture series, we knew it was something we could not pass up."

Pinker has devoted his life to studying the way people think and communicate. He uses language to shed light on every aspect of human nature. His research on visual cognition and the psychology of language has received numerous awards, including the Troland Award from the National Academy of Science. Pinker has been named among Newsweek's "100 Americans for the Next Century," one of TIME magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" and one of the top 100 public intellectuals in the world by "Foreign Policy."

His language series is critically acclaimed and includes "The Language Instinct," "How the Mind Works," "Words and Rules," "The Blank Slate" and "The Stuff of Thought."

For more information, contact Johnson at 262-472-4766 or johnsons@uww.edu.

If you have a disability and desire accommodations, please advise us as early as possible. Requests are confidential. UW-Whitewater provides equal opportunities in employment and programming, including Title IX and ADA requirements. Please contact Susan Johnson at 262-472-4766 or johnsons@uww.edu for further information.