MOSAIC

The objective of MOSAIC is to train an interdisciplinary cohort of 15 doctoral researchers, integrating perspectives from linguistics, philosophy, and psychology, to develop innovative, empirically supported, and formally grounded theories of causation as it relates to language and thought. Causation is fundamental to explanation and endeavor, both everyday and scientific. At the same time, causation cannot be understood without considering how we speak and think about causal concepts. This fact demands an integrated approach, but the current state of the art is one of fragmentation. There is thus a critical imperative for a cohesive training program bringing together multiple disciplines to forge a deeper and more holistic understanding of causation. Our interdisciplinary training program will enable doctoral candidates to pursue intertwining lines of research on this inherently multifaceted topic, and emerge as leaders in their fields, equipped with the knowledge and skills to advance the study of causation across diverse domains. The MOSAIC consortium, comprised of 8 specialists in linguistics, philosophy, and psychology across 6 academic institutions in France, Germany, Italy, Israel, and the United States, will achieve this objective via a structured online and in-person training program in all three disciplines, as well as cutting-edge research methods, international mobility, and truly interdisciplinary supervision of doctoral candidates. The MOSAIC initiative directly addresses the pressing demand for researchers who not only have first-rate expertise in their field, but can also communicate across disciplines and audiences to advance our collective understanding of causation in the context of language and cognition.