丁香园AV

by Neha Nandakumar

The Department of Philosophy is pleased to welcome new Assistant Professor, Zara Anwarzai. Zara completed her PhD in Philosophy and Cognitive Science at Indiana University Bloomington in 2024. Her work focuses on skill, expertise, technology and labor.

Research

鈥淲hen it comes to the material at the intersection of Philosophy and Cognitive Science, I鈥檓 really interested in rethinking the approach that philosophers and cognitive scientists have taken to this point because I think it鈥檚 been a predominantly individualistic one.鈥�

Zara points out that literature on skill and expertise focuses on solo athletes or solo musicians. However, most of the skills we practice tend to happen in pairs or groups. So, the fundamental starting point should be the person in a group, rather than practicing a skill alone. And if we shift our starting point, Zara mentions that a wide range of questions are opened up, such as: What kind of agency is demonstrated during group skilled behaviors, such as those performed by a soccer team? Are they a group agent or eleven individual agents? What does it take cognitively to work together with other skilled agents?

Another area of interest is the relationship of skill with technology. During her program in Cognitive Science, Zara worked in a brain evolution lab, conducting neuroimaging experiments on people who have experience making tools. There, she developed an interest in understanding what it takes, cognitively and agentially, to make certain technologies. She also began to think about the contemporary applications of such empirical questions, which drew her attention to the workplace.

Similar to how group dynamics and social contexts are overlooked in the literature on skill, so too is the environment of the workplace. She mentions that this is one of the places where people use skills and technology the most. However, it is such a different context from that of a hobby or game that it should change some of our basic questions. For instance, consider a soccer player for whom the game is a voluntary and enjoyable activity. Their psychological and cognitive approach is different from that of someone whose work is compulsory, boring, or constrained to a set time. Turning our attention to this context, therefore, would give us a different story about what it takes to make tools and exercise our skills in a technological capacity.

In terms of future directions, Zara is excited to work on the ethical dimensions of technology and skill in the workplace. For example, she mentions that some theorists of skill and expertise straightforwardly assume that automaticity is a sign of a highly skilled behavior. That is, if a player gets to a point where they can do something automatically, this is seen as desirable. Meanwhile, automaticity in the workplace means that one is replaceable, and it鈥檚 not considered a good demonstration of skill. So, she is interested in working on such asymmetries and developing their ethical and political implications.

In addition to these focus areas, Zara has broader interests in social and political philosophy, the philosophy of work, and environmental philosophy.

Philosophy and Cognitive Science

鈥淭he foundations of cognitive science are, at their core, philosophical,鈥� says Zara. She adds that cognitive science moved away from psychology in a more philosophical direction, and that being cognizant of these philosophical roots can ground empirical inquiry in a really productive way. For instance, it is important to think about what kinds of frameworks one is building, what hypotheses one can generate from these frameworks, and whether these frameworks are actually tracking the phenomena one set out to study in the first place. While philosophy is much more than methodological clarity, this is a key way in which it can impact the sciences. Zara mentions that while she was studying cognitive science, she realized that few experimentalists will pause to fully consider鈥� what, precisely, do we mean by 鈥榬epresentation?鈥� Meanwhile, there is a rigorous philosophical debate that can lend more clarity to this discussion in cognitive science. A lot depends on what one means by the term they use, for if they mean one thing their thesis could be more plausible, and if they mean another, the very thesis could be less plausible.

Cognitive science is also relatively new compared to philosophy, and many questions are common to both disciplines. Philosophers have been working on questions about belief and consciousness for centuries, bringing up considerations that can guide cognitive scientists as they explore the same phenomena. So, both historically and methodologically, Zara believes that philosophy has a lot to offer to cognitive science.

Cognitive science, on the other hand, is helpful to philosophy by bringing empirical considerations to philosophical problems. Zara mentions that as a result of doing formal work in cognitive science, she approaches philosophical theories with the question鈥� is this testable? While not all philosophical theories need to be testable, when we make semi-empirical claims such as 鈥渢his theory of consciousness is better than that one,鈥� testability makes for a really good way to assess the plausibility of different claims.

Teaching

Zara was selected for a Fulbright Scholarship after completing her undergraduate degree. It was here that she fell in love with teaching. Speaking of this experience, she says, 鈥淓very course felt like a conversation. Even if the class had forty students, I would find ways of building in conversations into the lectures. And that, I found, really opened my eyes to what teaching could be.鈥�

Zara is excited to teach graduate-level courses in which she can bring students into new and evolving debates in the areas of research she is passionate about and deeply invested in. She also really enjoys teaching introductory courses. In these courses, her goal is for students to develop an appreciation for the field they鈥檙e learning about. In the case of cognitive science, she hopes that students appreciate the multidisciplinary and innovative nature of the discipline. With philosophy, she aims to equip them with the important life skill of constructing, understanding, and responding to arguments. At the same time, she hopes that students come to see that philosophy is an incredibly deep and eye-opening field that can really change the way you think and live.