Institut Jean Nicod

The Institut Jean Nicod (also known as IJN) is a CNRS research center based in Paris, France. Founded in 2000, its name commemorates the French philosopher and logician Jean Nicod (1893-1924). At present, the Institute is co-hosted by the École Normale Supérieure and the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, two prestigious French institutions for research and higher education. Research carried by its members has a strongly interdisciplinary profile, at the interface between philosophy, cognitive science, and the social sciences. The main scientific fields covered by the Institute include: linguistics (semantics and pragmatics), cognitive anthropology and philosophy of mind. Although most members of the group are philosophers, the issues addressed are not purely conceptual and have a strong empirical component. For several years, members of the Institute have led research projects in collaboration with cognitive and developmental psychologists, neuropsychologists and cognitive neuroscientists.

The Jean Nicod Institute was the first French institution (and among the first in Europe) in the field of the social sciences to embrace an open access policy with respect to its scientific production, providing free and unconstrained access to the totality of its publications. The Institute hosts two academic journals, the European Review of Philosophy (CSLI Publications, 1994-2006) and the Review of Philosophy and Psychology (Springer, 2010-), as well as a the Jean Nicod Lectures series (MIT Press, 1995-). Every year, the IJN website provides information on the Jean Nicod Prize, awarded by the French CNRS to a leading philosopher of mind or philosophically oriented cognitive scientist.