Representation Reconsidered
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 6/21/2007
EAN 9780521859875, ISBN10: 0521859875
Hardcover, 270 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm
Language: English
Cognitive representation is the single most important explanatory notion in the sciences of the mind and has served as the cornerstone for the so-called 'cognitive revolution'. This book critically examines the ways in which philosophers and cognitive scientists appeal to representations in their theories, and argues that there is considerable confusion about the nature of representational states. This has led to an excessive over-application of the notion - especially in many of the fresher theories in computational neuroscience. Representation Reconsidered shows how psychological research is actually moving in a non-representational direction, revealing a radical, though largely unnoticed, shift in our basic understanding of how the mind works.
List of figures
Preface
1. Demands on a representational theory
2. Representation in classical computational theories
the standard interpretation and its problems
3. Two notions of representation in the classical computational framework
4. The receptor notion and its problems
5. Tacit representation and its problems
6. Where is the representational paradigm headed?
References
Index.