Offered as a Bachelor of Arts and Science, Cognitive Science is truly an interdisciplinary program. Students get to delve into the study of intelligent behaviour in Humans, Animals and machines within the 5 principal areas of studies. Each student is required to take courses in Computer science, Linguistics, neuroscience, philosophy and Psychology in order to establish a mechanistic understanding of the mental processes that underpin intelligent behaviour. Due to the variety of options each student has a unique course trajectory that offers a foundational understanding of both the Arts and Science.
To better understand the importance of arts within their degree I sat down with members of the Student Association of Cognitive Science or SACS.
Elliot Durkee, the Arts rep for SACs U3 student concentrating in Psychology and a minor in East Asian Language and Literature, feels that cognitive science is more holistic than it may seem.
Q: How and why do you think the Arts contributes to the cognitive science program?
Elliot: I think maybe the name "cognitive science" for what we do can be a bit misleading. Yes, cognitive scientists try to understand the things we do as thinking and feeling beings empirically and scientifically, but cognitive science isn't only about the biological mechanics about thinking and feeling, otherwise we would call it neuroscience. If you want a holistic view of what it means to think--to cognize--then you must make room for things like philosophy, linguistics, and anthropology, because we don't think in a vacuum. The incorporation of the arts into an empirical science of mind is what makes cogsci special and most interesting to me, and emphasizing that bridge between the arts and sciences makes it a more grounded science of thinking/feeling/experiencing and opens up new avenues of investigation and experience. I think without the arts, cogsci wouldn't be cogsci!
And things considered fine arts are a unique way to study cognitive science too. It's hard to explain all this without getting into the nitty gritty philosophy of science/mind details, but I think there is a lot of ways in which studying the mind through art itself, rather than empirical analysis can be massively valuable. I also think that for a field as dynamic as cognitive science, philosophy plays a super important role. A lot of questions in cognitive science, like "what is consciousness?", or "why does it FEEL like anything?" simply can't be satisfyingly answered by a science of the mind alone. Many of these questions still must be left to the arts. Whether or not they will be eventually answerable by science is still up for debate
Through Elliot's passion for the Arts we see the interdisciplinary aspect of this program is invaluable. To provide the perspective of someone more integrated within the science aspect of the degree I sat down with Matthew Loukine, the Science rep for SACs is a U3 student concentrating in Neuroscience and a minor in Computer Science. While Matthew has taken a lot of science courses, he feels that the Arts have been a formative aspect of his degree:
Q: What has been your favourite course at McGill?
Matthew: LING 201, Introduction to Linguistics! Going into it I had no prior knowledge of Linguistics. I honestly didn't know what to expect. However, it was very eye opening, I got to learn about the intricacies of language and the ways we can study it. It was honestly such a great foundational course, and the professors were fantastic=
Q: What was an Arts course you didn't expect to take during your degree? Were you glad you took it?
Matthew: Definitely Russ 224, a literature course on 19th century Russian authors. Though it was not a course I thought I would take during my degree I am so happy I did. The professor was so fun and engaging, I felt as we went through the novels, I also got to learn about some of the history of Russia. Also, it was a great opportunity to read a genre of book that I was not very familiar with. I would suggest this course to anyone, and it really shows some of the unique courses offered at McGill
Q: As a student who has primarily focused on the Science end of the Cognitive Science degree what are some of the ways that the Arts have contributed to your time in University?
Matthew: Honestly, I think it made me well rounded. When I step into a science course, I can use the knowledge I have gained from my Arts courses to help me write a paper or better tackle readings. Also, I think this degree has allowed me to appreciate the beauty of both disciplines. I have had the opportunity to meet students in a wide range of degrees and get their views on topics I maybe I'm not as familiar with. Surprisingly, I think that what I learned in my philosophy courses has helped shape how I conduct myself in my lab; The Arts has contributed to my evaluation of ethics and the differing subjective understandings of science that are maybe not as well addressed within that side of my degree.
The Cognitive Science degree displays the vast ways that the Arts can be used even when least expected. Student associations like SACS highlight the opportunities and sociability of taking on such an interdisciplinary lens. Clearly, The Arts is formative to the degree and represents the unique programs that the University has to offer. To learn more about this degree visit the McGill Cognitive Science website: /cogsci/ or SACS鈥檚 website:
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