Cognitive Science Rescues the Deconstructed Mind | John Vervaeke | TEDxUofT

Dr. John Vervaeke shows how modern science has broken our understanding of the mind into multiple incompatible fragments, from anthropology, to biology, and sociology, and more. However, with cognitive science, we can begin to put the mind back together again. Dr. Vervaeke has been teaching cognitive science since 1994 and is one of the most cherished professors at the University of Toronto. Dr. Vervaeke has been teaching at the University of Toronto since 1994. He currently teaches in the Cognitive Science program, the Psychology department, and the Buddhism, Psychology and Mental Health program. He has won and been nominated for several teaching awards including the 2001 Students’ Administrative Council and Association of Parttime Undergraduate Students Teaching Award for the Humanities, and the 2012 Ranjini Ghosh Excellence in Teaching Award. His most recent publications include Relevance Realization the Emerging Framework in Cognitive Science (2012) with Tim Lillicrap and Blake Richards, and a forthcoming chapter entitled Relevance, Meaning, and the Cognitive Science of Wisdom with Leo Ferraro. His research interests are relevance realization, insight problem solving, general intelligence, consciousness, mindfulness, rationality, and wisdom. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at