Cultural Logic Or Transcendental Interpretation? Golumbia on Chomsky's Computationalism

Cultural Logic Or Transcendental Interpretation? Golumbia on Chomsky's Computationalism
Author: William L. Benzon
Publisher:
Total Pages: 21
Release: 2019
Genre:
ISBN:

In The Cultural Logic of Computation David Golumbia offers a critique of Chomsky and of computational linguistics that is rendered moot by his poor understanding of those ideas. He fails to understand and appreciate the distinction between the abstract theory of computation and real computation, such as that involved in machine translation; he confuses the Chomsky hierarchy of language types with hierarchical social organization; he misperceives the conceptual value of computation as a way of thinking about the mind; he ignores the standard account of the defunding of machine translation in the 1960s (it wasn't working) in favor of obscure political speculations; he offers casual remarks about the demographics of linguistics without any evidence, thus betraying his ideological preconceptions; and he seems to hold a view of analog phenomena that is at odds with the analog/digital distinction as it is used in linguistics, computation, and the cognitive sciences.

Radical Embodied Cognitive Science

Radical Embodied Cognitive Science
Author: Anthony Chemero
Publisher: MIT Press
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2011-08-19
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0262516470

A proposal for a new way to do cognitive science argues that cognition should be described in terms of agent-environment dynamics rather than computation and representation. While philosophers of mind have been arguing over the status of mental representations in cognitive science, cognitive scientists have been quietly engaged in studying perception, action, and cognition without explaining them in terms of mental representation. In this book, Anthony Chemero describes this nonrepresentational approach (which he terms radical embodied cognitive science), puts it in historical and conceptual context, and applies it to traditional problems in the philosophy of mind. Radical embodied cognitive science is a direct descendant of the American naturalist psychology of William James and John Dewey, and follows them in viewing perception and cognition to be understandable only in terms of action in the environment. Chemero argues that cognition should be described in terms of agent-environment dynamics rather than in terms of computation and representation. After outlining this orientation to cognition, Chemero proposes a methodology: dynamical systems theory, which would explain things dynamically and without reference to representation. He also advances a background theory: Gibsonian ecological psychology, “shored up” and clarified. Chemero then looks at some traditional philosophical problems (reductionism, epistemological skepticism, metaphysical realism, consciousness) through the lens of radical embodied cognitive science and concludes that the comparative ease with which it resolves these problems, combined with its empirical promise, makes this approach to cognitive science a rewarding one. “Jerry Fodor is my favorite philosopher,” Chemero writes in his preface, adding, “I think that Jerry Fodor is wrong about nearly everything.” With this book, Chemero explains nonrepresentational, dynamical, ecological cognitive science as clearly and as rigorously as Jerry Fodor explained computational cognitive science in his classic work The Language of Thought.

Handbook of Epistemology

Handbook of Epistemology
Author: I. Niiniluoto
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 1074
Release: 2004-03-31
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9781402019852

The twenty-eight essays in this Handbook, all by leading experts in the field, provide the most extensive treatment of various epistemological problems, supplemented by a historical account of this field. The entries are self-contained and substantial contributions to topics such as the sources of knowledge and belief, knowledge acquisition, and truth and justification. There are extensive essays on knowledge in specific fields: the sciences, mathematics, the humanities and the social sciences, religion, and language. Special attention is paid to current discussions on evolutionary epistemology, relativism, the relation between epistemology and cognitive science, sociology of knowledge, epistemic logic, knowledge and art, and feminist epistemology. This collection is a must-have for anybody interested in human knowledge, and its fortunes and misfortunes.

The Logical Basis of Metaphysics

The Logical Basis of Metaphysics
Author: Michael Dummett
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 376
Release: 1991
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780674537866

This performance of the Richard Strauss opera Arabella with the Orchestra of the Vienna State Opera features vocalists such as Emily Magee, Genia Kuhmeier, and Tomasz Konieczny in the leading roles. ~ Cammila Collar, Rovi

The Civilization of Illiteracy

The Civilization of Illiteracy
Author: Mihai Nadin
Publisher: Dresden University Press
Total Pages: 880
Release: 1997
Genre: Computers and literacy
ISBN: 3931828387

Phenomena related to the transition from a literacy-dominated civilization to one of various means of expression and communication are at the center of his book. The fall of totalitarian regimes, the current structural difficulties of the European Community, the burden of state bureaucracies, the world-wide effort of re-engineering, and the global economy are part of the bigger picture of a necessary development.

Matter and Mind

Matter and Mind
Author: Mario Bunge
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 325
Release: 2010-09-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 9048192250

This book discusses two of the oldest and hardest problems in both science and philosophy: What is matter?, and What is mind? A reason for tackling both problems in a single book is that two of the most influential views in modern philosophy are that the universe is mental (idealism), and that the everything real is material (materialism). Most of the thinkers who espouse a materialist view of mind have obsolete ideas about matter, whereas those who claim that science supports idealism have not explained how the universe could have existed before humans emerged. Besides, both groups tend to ignore the other levels of existence—chemical, biological, social, and technological. If such levels and the concomitant emergence processes are ignored, the physicalism/spiritualism dilemma remains unsolved, whereas if they are included, the alleged mysteries are shown to be problems that science is treating successfully.

Recent Trends in Theoretical Psychology

Recent Trends in Theoretical Psychology
Author: International Society for Theoretical Psychology. Conference
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 492
Release: 1990-06-13
Genre: Psychology
ISBN:

This book is a compilation of papers by a cross-section of European and North American scholars from the International Society for Theoretical Psychology. The papers were selected to represent the multifaceted nature of theoretical psychology as it attempts to deal with the myriad range of questions raised for psychology in the post-positivist era in the philosophy of science. Any reader interested in the social sciences will find topics of interest in the set. Since we can no longer take the fundamental principles of these sci- ences for granted, these papers will provide an opening dialogue on our future development.

The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information

The Blackwell Guide to the Philosophy of Computing and Information
Author: Luciano Floridi
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 392
Release: 2008-04-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0470756764

This Guide provides an ambitious state-of-the-art survey of the fundamental themes, problems, arguments and theories constituting the philosophy of computing. A complete guide to the philosophy of computing and information. Comprises 26 newly-written chapters by leading international experts. Provides a complete, critical introduction to the field. Each chapter combines careful scholarship with an engaging writing style. Includes an exhaustive glossary of technical terms. Ideal as a course text, but also of interest to researchers and general readers.

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence
Author: Mariusz Flasiński
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 316
Release: 2016-08-31
Genre: Computers
ISBN: 3319400223

In the chapters in Part I of this textbook the author introduces the fundamental ideas of artificial intelligence and computational intelligence. In Part II he explains key AI methods such as search, evolutionary computing, logic-based reasoning, knowledge representation, rule-based systems, pattern recognition, neural networks, and cognitive architectures. Finally, in Part III, he expands the context to discuss theories of intelligence in philosophy and psychology, key applications of AI systems, and the likely future of artificial intelligence. A key feature of the author's approach is historical and biographical footnotes, stressing the multidisciplinary character of the field and its pioneers. The book is appropriate for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in computer science, engineering, and other applied sciences, and the appendices offer short formal, mathematical models and notes to support the reader.

Consciousness and the Philosophy of Signs

Consciousness and the Philosophy of Signs
Author: Marc Champagne
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2018-03-09
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3319733389

It is often thought that consciousness has a qualitative dimension that cannot be tracked by science. Recently, however, some philosophers have argued that this worry stems not from an elusive feature of the mind, but from the special nature of the concepts used to describe conscious states. Marc Champagne draws on the neglected branch of philosophy of signs or semiotics to develop a new take on this strategy. The term “semiotics” was introduced by John Locke in the modern period – its etymology is ancient Greek, and its theoretical underpinnings are medieval. Charles Sanders Peirce made major advances in semiotics, so he can act as a pipeline for these forgotten ideas. Most philosophers know Peirce as the founder of American pragmatism, but few know that he also coined the term “qualia,” which is meant to capture the intrinsic feel of an experience. Since pragmatic verification and qualia are now seen as conflicting commitments, Champagne endeavors to understand how Peirce could (or thought he could) have it both ways. The key, he suggests, is to understand how humans can insert distinctions between features that are always bound. Recent attempts to take qualities seriously have resulted in versions of panpsychism, but Champagne outlines a more plausible way to achieve this. So, while semiotics has until now been the least known branch of philosophy ending in –ics, his book shows how a better understanding of that branch can move one of the liveliest debates in philosophy forward.