About the Book
This collection of readings shows how cognitive science can influence most of the primary branches of philosophy, as well as how philosophy critically examines the foundations of cognitive science. Its broad coverage extends beyond current texts that focus mainly on the impact of cognitive science on philosophy of mind and philosophy of psychology, to include materials that are relevant to five other branches of philosophy: epistemology, philosophy of science (and mathematics), meta-physics, language, and ethics. The readings are organized by philosophical fields, with selections evenly divided between philosophers and cognitive scientists. They draw on research in numerous areas of cognitive science, including cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, social psychology, psychology of reasoning and judgement, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and neuropsychology. There are reviews of current topics and debates such as the innate understanding of number, children's theory of mind, self-knowledge, consciousness, connectionism, and ethics and cognitive science.
The readings are by: Irving Biederman; John Holland, Keith Holyoak, Richard Nisbett and Paul Thagard; Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman; Hilary Kornblith; Alvin Goldman; Jerry Fodor; Paul Churchland; Pat Langley; Herbert Simon, Gary Bradshaw and Jan Zytkow; Karen Wynn; Ned Block; Fred Dretske; Alison Gopnik; Daniel Dennett and Daniel Schacter; Elizabeth Spelke; Nancy Soja, Susan Carey; Ray Jackendoff; C.L. Hardin; Noam Chomsky; David Rumelhart and James McClelland; Andy Clark; Philip Johnson-Laird; Antonio Damasio; Hilary Putnam; Martin Hoffman; Owen Flanagan; Stephen Stich; Tyler Burge; Patricia Churchland; Paul SMolensky; Zenon Pylyshyn; John Searle.
Table of Contents:
Part 1 Epistemology: visual object recognition, Irving Biederman; deductive reasoning, John H. Holland et al; probabilistic reasoning, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman; our native inferential tendencies, Hilary Kornblith; epistemic folkways and scientific epistemology, Alvin I. Goldman. Part 2 Science and mathematics: observation reconsidered, Jerry A. Fodor; perceptual plasticity and theoretical neutrality - a reply to Jerry Fodor, Paul M. Churchland; explanatory coherence, Paul R. Thagard; scientific discovery, Pat Langley et al; evidence against empiricist accounts of the origins of numerical knowledge, Karen Wynn. Part 3 Mind: troubles with functionalism, Ned Block; eliminative materialism and the propositional attitudes, Paul M. Churchland; Fodor's guide to mental representation, Jerry A. Fodor; misrepresentation, Fred I. Dretske; how we know our minds - the illusion of first-person knowledge of intentionality, Alison Gopnik; the psychology of folk psychology, Alvin I. Goldman; quining qualia, Daniel C. Dennett; neuropsychological evidence for a consciousness system, Daniel L. Schacter. Part 4 Metaphysics: object perception, Elizabeth S. Spelke; ontological categories guide young children's inductions of word meaning, Nancy N. Soja et al; some elements of conceptual structure, Ray Jackendoff; colour subjectivism, C.L. Hardin. Part 5 Language: on the nature, use, and acquisition of language, Noam Chomsky; on learning the past tenses of English verbs, David E. Rumelhart and James L. McClelland; critique of Rumelhart and McClelland, Andy Clark; the mental representation of the meaning of words, Philip N. Johnson-Laird; brain and language, Antom R. Damasio and Hanna Damasio; meaning, other people, and the world, Hilary Putnam. Part 6 Ethics: ethics and cognitive science, Alvin I. Goldman; the contribution of empathy to justice and moral judgment, Martin L. Hoffman; situations and dispositions, Owen Flanagan. Part 7 Conceptual foundations: autonomous psychology and the belief-desire thesis, Stephen P. Stich; individualism and psychology, Tyler Burge; the co-evolutionary research ideology, Patrica S. Churchland; on the proper treatment of connectionism, Paul Smolensky; connectionism and cognitive architecture, Jerry A. Fodor and Zenon W. Pylyshyn; the computer model of the mind, Ned Bock; the critique of cognitive reason, John R. Searle.
About the Author :
Alvin I. Goldman is Professor of Philosophy and Research Scientist in Cognitive Science at the University of Arizona.
