Reconstructing Reason And Representation

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Reconstructing Reason and Representation

Author : Murray Clarke
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262545756
Total Pages : 193 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (625 download)

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Book Synopsis Reconstructing Reason and Representation by : Murray Clarke

Download or read book Reconstructing Reason and Representation written by Murray Clarke and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-06-07 with total page 193 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the philosophical implications of evolutionary psychology, suggesting that knowledge is a set of natural kinds housed in the modules of a massively modular mind. In Reconstructing Reason and Representation, Murray Clarke offers a detailed study of the philosophical implications of evolutionary psychology. In doing so, he offers new solutions to key problems in epistemology and philosophy of mind, including misrepresentation and rationality. He proposes a naturalistic approach to reason and representation that is informed by evolutionary psychology, and, expanding on the massive modularity thesis advanced in work by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, argues for a modular, adapticist account of misrepresentation and knowledge. Just as the reliability of representation can be defended on the basis of an account of the proper function of cognitive modularity, misrepresentation can be explained through an appeal to the "gap theory," by noting the divergence between the proper and actual domains of cognitive modules in a massively modular mind. Clarke argues for an externalist, modular reliabilism by suggesting that evolution has equipped us with generally reliable inferential systems even if they do not always produce true beliefs. He argues that reliable deductive and inductive inference occurs only when cognitive modules deal with actual domains that are sufficiently similar to their proper domains. This psychologically informed, naturalized adapticism leads to the suggestion that knowledge is a set of natural kinds housed in the modules of a massively modular mind. Typically, the proper function of these cognitive modules is to provide us with truths that enable us to satisfy our basic biological needs. Beyond reasoning modules, other cognitive modules discussed include the ability to orient ourselves in space, and our abilities with language, numbers, object reasoning, and social understanding. Clarke also defends Cosmides and Tooby's massive modularity hypothesis against such critics as Jerry Fodor by demonstrating that these critics consistently misrepresent Cosmides and Tooby's position.

Reconstructing Reason and Representation

Author : Murray Clarke
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262033224
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (62 download)

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Book Synopsis Reconstructing Reason and Representation by : Murray Clarke

Download or read book Reconstructing Reason and Representation written by Murray Clarke and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004-06-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A study of the philosophical implications of evolutionary psychology, suggesting that knowledge is a set of natural kinds housed in the modules of a massively modular mind. In Reconstructing Reason and Representation, Murray Clarke offers a detailed study of the philosophical implications of evolutionary psychology. In doing so, he offers new solutions to key problems in epistemology and philosophy of mind, including misrepresentation and rationality. He proposes a naturalistic approach to reason and representation that is informed by evolutionary psychology, and, expanding on the massive modularity thesis advanced in work by Leda Cosmides and John Tooby, argues for a modular, adapticist account of misrepresentation and knowledge. Just as the reliability of representation can be defended on the basis of an account of the proper function of cognitive modularity, misrepresentation can be explained through an appeal to the "gap theory," by noting the divergence between the proper and actual domains of cognitive modules in a massively modular mind. Clarke argues for an externalist, modular reliabilism by suggesting that evolution has equipped us with generally reliable inferential systems even if they do not always produce true beliefs. He argues that reliable deductive and inductive inference occurs only when cognitive modules deal with actual domains that are sufficiently similar to their proper domains. This psychologically informed, naturalized adapticism leads to the suggestion that knowledge is a set of natural kinds housed in the modules of a massively modular mind. Typically, the proper function of these cognitive modules is to provide us with truths that enable us to satisfy our basic biological needs. Beyond reasoning modules, other cognitive modules discussed include the ability to orient ourselves in space, and our abilities with language, numbers, object reasoning, and social understanding. Clarke also defends Cosmides and Tooby's massive modularity hypothesis against such critics as Jerry Fodor by demonstrating that these critics consistently misrepresent Cosmides and Tooby's position.

Reconstructing the Cognitive World

Author : Michael Wheeler
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262232401
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (324 download)

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Book Synopsis Reconstructing the Cognitive World by : Michael Wheeler

Download or read book Reconstructing the Cognitive World written by Michael Wheeler and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument for a non-Cartesian philosophical foundation for cognitive science that combines elements of Heideggerian phenomenology, a dynamical systems approach to cognition, and insights from artificial intelligence-related robotics.

Reconstructing Reality

Author : Margaret Morrison
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 0199380279
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (993 download)

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Book Synopsis Reconstructing Reality by : Margaret Morrison

Download or read book Reconstructing Reality written by Margaret Morrison and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Attempts to understand various aspects of the empirical world often rely on modelling processes that involve a reconstruction of systems under investigation. Typically the reconstruction uses mathematical frameworks like gauge theory and renormalization group methods, but more recently simulations also have become an indispensable tool for investigation. This book is a philosophical examination of techniques and assumptions related to modelling and simulation with the goal of showing how these abstract descriptions can contribute to our understanding of the physical world. Particular issues include the role of fictional models in science, how mathematical formalisms can yield physical information, and how we should approach the use of inconsistent models for specific types of systems. It also addresses the role of simulation, specifically the conditions under which simulation can be seen as a technique for measurement, replacing more traditional experimental approaches. Inherent worries about the legitimacy of simulation "knowledge" are also addressed, including an analysis of verification and validation and the role of simulation data in the search for the Higgs boson. In light of the significant role played by simulation in the Large Hadron Collider experiments, it is argued that the traditional distinction between simulation and experiment is no longer applicable in some contexts of modern science. Consequently, a re-evaluation of the way and extent to which simulation delivers empirical knowledge is required. "This is a, lively, stimulating, and important book by one of the main scholars contributing to current topics and debates in our field. It will be a major resource for philosophers of science, their students, scientists interested in examining scientific practice, and the general scientifically literate public."-Bas van Fraassen, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, San Francisco State University

Ideals and Illusions

Author : Thomas McCarthy
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262631457
Total Pages : 268 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (314 download)

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Book Synopsis Ideals and Illusions by : Thomas McCarthy

Download or read book Ideals and Illusions written by Thomas McCarthy and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1993 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These lucid and closely reasoned studies of the thought of Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, J�rgen Habermas, and Richard Rorty provide a coherent analysis of major pathways in recent critical theory. They defend a position analogous to Kant's - that ideas of reason are both unavoidable presuppositions of thought that have to be carefully reconstructed and persistent sources of illusions that have to be repeatedly deconstructed.McCarthy examines the critique of impure reason from the complementary viewpoints of the attackers and defenders of Enlightenment rationality. He first analyzes the work of Rorty, Foucault, and Derrida to determine what these radical critics have contributed to our understanding of reason and where they have gone wrong. He explores Habermas's theory of communicative rationality, focusing on the attempt to go beyond hermeneutics, the incorporation of systems theory, the implications of discourse ethics for our understanding of political debate and collective decision making, and the relation of political theology to critical social theory.Thomas McCarthy is Professor of Philosophy at Northwestern University and the editor of The MIT Press series Studies in Contemporary German Social Thought. The analysis and assessment of Habermas's recent work in Ideals and Illusions serves as a sequel to his earlier study The Critical Theory of J�rgen Habermas.

Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society

Author : Cognitive Science Society (US) Conference
Publisher : Psychology Press
ISBN 13 : 1317781619
Total Pages : 1204 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (177 download)

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Book Synopsis Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society by : Cognitive Science Society (US) Conference

Download or read book Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society written by Cognitive Science Society (US) Conference and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2014-05-12 with total page 1204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume features the complete text of all regular papers, posters, and summaries of symposia presented at the 14th annual meeting of the Cognitive Science Society.

Language and Reason

Author : Maeve Cooke
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262531450
Total Pages : 236 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (314 download)

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Book Synopsis Language and Reason by : Maeve Cooke

Download or read book Language and Reason written by Maeve Cooke and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1994 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Readers of Juergen Habermas's "Theory of Communicative Action" and his later social theory know that the idea of communicative rationality is central to his version of critical theory. This text provides a general introduction to Habermas's programme of formal pragmatics - his reconstruction of the universal principles of possible understanding that, he argues, operate in everyday communicative practices. Philosophers of language should discover connections between Habermas's account of language and validity (especially his theory of meaning) and their own concerns. This work introduces the theory of communicative action as the background against which the programme of formal pragmatics must be understood. It then outlines the idea of communicative rationality as a postmetaphysical yet nondefeatist conception of reason. Two central chapters detail the connections Habermas asserts between language and validity, with particular attention to his theory of validity claims and his pragmatic theory of meaning. A final chapter looks at Habermas's account of the pathologies of modern society and at communicative rationality as a yardstick for measuring these pathologies. -- from http://www.amazon.ca (August 22, 2011)

Connected Minds

Author : Nicolas Payette
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443839167
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis Connected Minds by : Nicolas Payette

Download or read book Connected Minds written by Nicolas Payette and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2012-04-25 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The theme for this volume is social cognition, construed from a psychological and collective point of view. From the psychological point of view, the question is to understand how the human mind processes social information; how it encodes, stores and uses it in the social context. From a collective point of view, the question is to understand how individual cognition is influenced (improved, increased or impaired) by social interactions, for instance in communicating and collaborating with intelligent agents. These two dimensions of social cognition are obviously interdependent: the psychological dimension makes the collective dimension possible, which can in return modify the psychological dimension. The book is divided into four parts. The first part is about socio-cognitive skills. Among those, we count face recognition, imitation learning, embodied social interaction, cheater detection and psychological concept acquisition. The second part is about persons and memories: stereotypes, attraction judgements and impression formation are the subjects at hand. The third part is about understanding each other. A key part of that understanding is the motor system (whether or not we see it as a “mirror”), but community membership itself can also contribute to our understanding of others. The fourth and final part is about social cognition in societies. This section is unified by the common goal of understand how social cognition actually influences the structure of different societies, whether whole cultures, specific social networks, rural communities or even groups of caterpillars!

A Theory of Literary Explication

Author : Kenneth B. Newell
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1443832308
Total Pages : 215 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (438 download)

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Book Synopsis A Theory of Literary Explication by : Kenneth B. Newell

Download or read book A Theory of Literary Explication written by Kenneth B. Newell and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2011-07-12 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents current multidisciplinary research and theory from 17 different fields (most of them never before applied to literary explication) in order to provide (1) justification for the practice of a relative-probability type of explication as distinguished from interpretation, (2) a relativistic foundation for the preference of some explication(s) of a literary work over others, and thereby (3) a middle way between the postmodern pluralist view that a work has only an unlimited number of equally acceptable though different explications and the modern intentionalist view that it has only one acceptable explication (the author’s). Nine of the 17 fields are of primary relevance: critical theory, hermeneutics, probability theory, philosophy of science, second-order logic, and four fields of cognitive science (linguistics, epistemology, neuropsychology, and artificial intelligence). But the book also touches upon textual criticism, legal theory, measure theory, fuzzy logic, animal learning behavior, developmental psychology, evolutionary epistemology, and neurobiology. The book shows that those using a relative-probability type of explication on a literary work can achieve consensus because the healthy, adult human brain has an evolved, uniform, and probably innate ability to form relative-probability judgments and to form them in the practice of activities (like reading and explicating) that are not uniform and innate. Lastly, the book contributes to the scholarly areas of explication theory and practice, first, by providing a relativistic foundation for a craft (explication) that currently is not acknowledged to have any foundation but nonetheless continues and will continue to be practiced and, second, by presenting a means (relative epistemic probability) by which judging some explication(s) of a literary work to be more acceptable than others may be justified philosophically—an uncommon circumstance in this postmodern era in which philosophical justification of many beliefs and practices is thought to be untenable.

Reconstructing Rawls

Author : Robert S. Taylor
Publisher : Penn State Press
ISBN 13 : 0271056711
Total Pages : 362 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (71 download)

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Book Synopsis Reconstructing Rawls by : Robert S. Taylor

Download or read book Reconstructing Rawls written by Robert S. Taylor and published by Penn State Press. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Reconstructing Rawls has one overarching goal: to reclaim Rawls for the Enlightenment—more specifically, the Prussian Enlightenment. Rawls’s so-called political turn in the 1980s, motivated by a newfound interest in pluralism and the accommodation of difference, has been unhealthy for autonomy-based liberalism and has led liberalism more broadly toward cultural relativism, be it in the guise of liberal multiculturalism or critiques of cosmopolitan distributive-justice theories. Robert Taylor believes that it is time to redeem A Theory of Justice’s implicit promise of a universalistic, comprehensive Kantian liberalism. Reconstructing Rawls on Kantian foundations leads to some unorthodox conclusions about justice as fairness, to be sure: for example, it yields a more civic-humanist reading of the priority of political liberty, a more Marxist reading of the priority of fair equality of opportunity, and a more ascetic or antimaterialist reading of the difference principle. It nonetheless leaves us with a theory that is still recognizably Rawlsian and reveals a previously untraveled road out of Theory—a road very different from the one Rawls himself ultimately followed.

Explorations in Archaeology and Philosophy

Author : Anton Killin
Publisher : Springer Nature
ISBN 13 : 3030610527
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (36 download)

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Book Synopsis Explorations in Archaeology and Philosophy by : Anton Killin

Download or read book Explorations in Archaeology and Philosophy written by Anton Killin and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2021-04-26 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume explores various themes at the intersection of archaeology and philosophy: inference and theory; interdisciplinary connections; cognition, language and normativity; and ethical issues. Showcasing this heterogeneity, its scope ranges from the method of analogical inference to the evolution of the human mind; from conceptual issues in assessing the health of past populations to the ethics of cultural heritage tourism. It probes the archaeological record for evidence of numeracy, curiosity and creativity, and social complexity. Its contributors comprise an interdisciplinary cluster of philosophers, archaeologists, anthropologists, and psychologists, from a variety of career stages, of whom many are leading experts in their fields. Chapter 3 is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

Body Language

Author : Mark J. Rowlands
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 0262264404
Total Pages : 255 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (622 download)

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Book Synopsis Body Language by : Mark J. Rowlands

Download or read book Body Language written by Mark J. Rowlands and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2011-08-19 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An argument that activity provides a useful template for thinking about representation and that deeds are themselves representational: our representing of the world consists, in part, in certain sorts of deeds that we perform in the world. In Body Language, Mark Rowlands argues that the problem of representation—how it is possible for one item to represent another—has been exacerbated by the assimilation of representation to the category of the word. That is, the problem is traditionally understood as one of relating inner to outer—relating an inner representing item to something extrinsic or exterior to it. Rowlands argues that at least some cases of representation need to be understood not in terms of the word but of the deed. Activity, he claims, is a useful template for thinking about representation; our representing the world consists, in part, in certain sorts of actions that we perform in that world. This is not to say simply that these forms of acting can facilitate representation but that they are themselves representational. These sorts of actions—which Rowlands calls deeds—do not merely express or re-present prior intentional states. They have an independent representational status. After introducing the notion of the deed as a "preintentional act," Rowlands argues that deeds can satisfy informational, teleological, combinatorial, misrepresentational, and decouplability constraints—and so qualify as representational. He puts these principles of representation into practice by examining the deeds involved in visual perception. Representing, Rowlands argues, is something we do in the world as much as in the head. Representing does not stop at the skin, at the border between the representing subject and the world; representing is representational "all the way out."

Ways of Meaning

Author : Mark de Bretton Platts
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262661072
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Ways of Meaning by : Mark de Bretton Platts

Download or read book Ways of Meaning written by Mark de Bretton Platts and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The philosophy of language is not an isolated philosophical discipline of merely technical interest to other philosophers. Rather, as Mark Platts shows, the philosophy of language can help to solve traditional problems in other areas of philosophy, such as metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics. Ways of Meaning provides a clear, comprehensive introduction to such issues at the forefront of philosophy. Assuming only minimum knowledge of elementary formal logic, the book shows how taking truth as the central notion in the theory of meaning can clarify the relations between language, reality, and knowledge, and thus illuminate the nature of each. This second edition of the book contains a new chapter on the notions of natural-kind words and natural kinds. Unlike other discussions of the subject, this one places the semantic issues involved in the context of questions about the relations between knowing subjects and known objects. The author has also added a bibliography of further readings published since the first edition appeared in 1979.

The Philosopher's Index

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 1256 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Philosopher's Index by :

Download or read book The Philosopher's Index written by and published by . This book was released on 2008 with total page 1256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vols. for 1969- include a section of abstracts.

Between Totalitarianism and Postmodernity

Author : Peter Beilharz
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262521796
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (217 download)

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Book Synopsis Between Totalitarianism and Postmodernity by : Peter Beilharz

Download or read book Between Totalitarianism and Postmodernity written by Peter Beilharz and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 1992 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These thirteen articles provide theoretical and historically informed analyses of the powerful currents that are shaping the late twentieth-century political and cultural landscape.

Giving Reasons

Author : Lilian Bermejo Luque
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN 13 : 940071761X
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis Giving Reasons by : Lilian Bermejo Luque

Download or read book Giving Reasons written by Lilian Bermejo Luque and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2011-07-31 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a new, linguistic approach to Argumentation Theory. Its main goal is to integrate the logical, dialectical and rhetorical dimensions of argumentation in a model providing a unitary treatment of its justificatory and persuasive powers. This model takes as its basis Speech Acts Theory in order to characterize argumentation as a second-order speech act complex. The result is a systematic and comprehensive theory of the interpretation, analysis and evaluation of arguments. This theory sheds light on the many faces of argumentative communication: verbal and non-verbal, monological and dialogical, literal and non-literal, ordinary and specialized. The book takes into consideration the major current comprehensive accounts of good argumentation (Perelman’s New Rhetoric, Pragma-dialectics, the ARG model, the Epistemic Approach) and shows that these accounts have fundamental weaknesses rooted in their instrumentalist conception of argumentation as an activity oriented to a goal external to itself. Furthermore, the author addresses some challenging meta-theoretical questions such as the justification problem for Argumentation Theory models and the relationship between reasoning and arguing.

There's Something About Mary

Author : Peter Ludlow
Publisher : MIT Press
ISBN 13 : 9780262621892
Total Pages : 488 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (218 download)

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Book Synopsis There's Something About Mary by : Peter Ludlow

Download or read book There's Something About Mary written by Peter Ludlow and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2004-11-19 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Frank Jackson's famous thought experiment, Mary is confined to a black-and-white room and educated through black-and-white books and lectures on a black-and-white television. In this way, she learns everything there is to know about the physical world. If physicalism—the doctrine that everything is physical—is true, then Mary seems to know all there is to know. What happens, then, when she emerges from her black-and-white room and sees the color red for the first time? Jackson's knowledge argument says that Mary comes to know a new fact about color, and that, therefore, physicalism is false. The knowledge argument remains one of the most controversial and important arguments in contemporary philosophy.There's Something About Mary—the first book devoted solely to the argument—collects the main essays in which Jackson presents (and later rejects) his argument along with key responses by other philosophers. These responses are organized around a series of questions: Does Mary learn anything new? Does she gain only know-how (the ability hypothesis), or merely get acquainted with something she knew previously (the acquaintance hypothesis)? Does she learn a genuinely new fact or an old fact in disguise? And finally, does she really know all the physical facts before her release, or is this a "misdescription"? The arguments presented in this comprehensive collection have important implications for the philosophy of mind and the study of consciousness.