E-Book Overview
While the notion of the mind as information-processor—a kind of computational system—is widely accepted, many scientists and philosophers have assumed that this account of cognition shows that the mind's operations are characterizable independent of their relationship to the external world. Existential Cognition challenges the internalist view of mind, arguing that intelligence, thought, and action cannot be understood in isolation, but only in interaction with the outside world. Arguing that the mind is essentially embedded in the external world, Ron McClamrock provides a schema that allows cognitive scientists to address such long-standing problems in artificial intelligence as the "frame" problem and the issue of "bounded" rationality. Extending this schema to cover progress in other studies of behavior, including language, vision, and action, McClamrock reinterprets the importance of the organism/environment distinction. McClamrock also considers the broader philosophical question of the place of mind in the world, particularly with regard to questions of intentionality, subjectivity, and phenomenology. With implications for philosophy, cognitive and computer science, AI, and psychology, this book synthesizes state-of-the-art work in philosophy and cognitive science on how the mind interacts with the world to produce thoughts, ideas, and actions.
E-Book Content
Existential Cognition
Existential Cognition Computational Minds in the World
Ron McClamrock
The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
RoN McCLAMROCK is associate professor in the Department of Philosophy and in the Department of Linguistics and Cognitive Science at the State University of New York, Albany.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 1995 by the University of Chicago Ail rights reserved. Published 1995 Printed in the United States of America 04 03 02 01 OO 99 98 97 96 95 54321 ISBN (cloth): 0-226-55641-7
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data McClamrock, Ronald Albert Existential cognition : computational minds in the world / Ron McCiamrock. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-226-55641-7 1. Philosophy of mind. 2. Philosophy and cognitive science. 3. Knowledge, Theory of. 4. Existential phenomenology. 5. Cognition-Philosophy. 1. lïtle. BD418.3.M36 1995 128'.2-- The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the Arnerican National Standard for Information Sciences-Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI 239.48-1984.
CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ix
INTRODUCTION
PART ONE Chapter One 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5
2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6
13
CONTEXT, TAXONOMY, AND MECHANISM 26
Context-dependence 26 The Level-relativity of Context-dependence 31 The Possibility of Non-individualism Context and Causation 34 Fodor's Rebuttals 36 Extemal Mechanisms, Mental Causes 39
Chapter Three 3.1 3.2 3.3
AUTONOMY AND IMPLEMENTATION
Levels and Multiple Realizability 13 Deciphering Lower-level Complexity 17 Task and Process 19 The Pitfall of Overidealization 23 lmplementation and Context 24
Chapter Two 2.1 2.2
lntertheoretic Considerations
PICKING LEVELS
42
Higher-level Causation 43 Brandon on Levels and Screening Off 45 Multiple Realizability and Context-dependence
V
28
47
Contents
vi
3.4 3.5
Exarnples and Applications Causation at a Distance?
PART TWO Chapter 4 4.1 4.2
4.3 4.4
6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8
THE FRAME PROBLEMS
BOUNDEDNESS AND CONTINGENCY 10
EXPLOITING THE ENVIRONMENT
75
77
81