Dan Sperber

Dan Sperber
Sperber in Paris, December 2012
Born	Dan Sperber (1942-06-20) 20 June 1942 (age 81) 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

Dan Sperber (born 20 June 1942 in Cagnes-sur-Mer) is a French social and cognitive scientist 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.