Dan Sperber | |
|---|---|
 Sperber in Paris, December 2012 | |
| Born | Dan Sperber 20 June 1942 Cagnes-sur-Mer, France |
| Alma mater | Sorbonne University of Oxford |
| Known for | Relevance theory, epidemiology of representations, cultural attraction theory, argumentative theory of reasoning |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Cognitive anthropology, cognitive psychology, pragmatics, philosophy |
| Part of a series on |
| Medical and psychological anthropology |
|---|
| Social and cultural anthropology |
Dan Sperber (born 20 June 1942 in Cagnes-sur-Mer) is a French social and cognitive scientist, anthropologist and philosopher. His most influential work has been in the fields of cognitive anthropology, linguistic pragmatics, psychology of reasoning, and philosophy of the social sciences. He has developed: an approach to cultural evolution known as the epidemiology of representations or cultural attraction theory as part of a naturalistic reconceptualization of the social; (with British philosopher and linguist Deirdre Wilson) relevance theory; (with French psychologist Hugo Mercier) the argumentative theory of reasoning. Sperber formerly Directeur de Recherche at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique is Professor in the Departments of Cognitive Science and of Philosophy at the Central European University in Budapest.