Contemporary research on comparative cognition tends to support Charles Darwin’s claim that the difference between human and non-human minds is "one of degree and not of kind". This hypothesis is still controversial, however, and the question of how and why human cognitive competences may differ from those of other animals does not concern only comparative cognition, but a host of different fields as well. Moreover, the very lack of an all-embracing definition of cognition involves the intervention of philosophy in monitoring the discussion. This conference promotes an interdisciplinary discussion on the foundations of an evolutionary approach to cognition, bringing together scholars working in biology, logic, cognitive psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, and philosophy.