| FA-56081-11 | Research Programs: Fellowships for University Teachers | Michael Rescorla | The Machinery of Meaning: A Philosophical Foundation for Cognitive Science | 11/1/2011 - 10/31/2012 | $50,400.00 | Michael | | Rescorla | | | | UCLA; Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles | Santa Barbara | CA | 93106-0001 | USA | 2010 | Philosophy of Science | Fellowships for University Teachers | Research Programs | 50400 | 0 | 50400 | 0 |
Cognitive science models mental activity as digital computation. Yet many philosophers worry that computational modeling cannot honor a crucial feature of the mind: its capacity to represent the world. I will address this worry by trying to honor the mind's representational nature within a computational setting. I develop my approach by drawing on logic, Artificial Intelligence, and cognitive psychology. My goal is to delineate a novel view of how the mind works, a view that honors two compelling thoughts: first, that the mind is a machine; second, that the mind is an inherently representational organ. Such a view would illuminate ancient debates about the causal structure of mental activity. It would also provide a compelling new philosophical foundation for cognitive science. Finally, it would clarify the relation between minds and texts by clarifying a crucial aspect of both minds and texts: the capacity to represent. |