Computers and Cognition : Why Minds Are Not Machines

by Fetzer, James H.

• ISBN13: 9780792366157
• ISBN10: 0792366158
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2000-11-01
• Publisher: Kluwer Academic Pub

Summary

An important collection of studies providing a fresh and original perspective on the nature of mind, including thoughtful and detailed arguments that explain why the prevailing paradigm - the computational conception of language and mentality - can no longer be sustained. An alternative approach is advanced, inspired by the work of Charles S. Peirce, according to which minds are sign-using (or 'semiotic') systems, which in turn generates distinctions between different kinds of minds and overcomes problems that burden more familiar alternatives. Unlike conceptions of minds as machines, this novel approach has obvious evolutionary implications, where differences in semiotic abilities tend to distinguish the species. From this point of view, the scope and limits of computer and AI systems can be more adequately appraised and alternative accounts of consciousness and cognition can be more thoroughly criticised. Readership: Intermediate and advanced students of computer science, AI, cognitive science, and all students of the philosophy of the mind.

Table of Contents

Series Preface	ix
Foreword	xi
Acknowledgments	xxi
PROLOGUE
Minds and Machines: Behaviorism, Dualism and Beyond	3	(22)
PART I: SEMIOTIC SYSTEMS
Primitive Concepts: Habits, Conventions, and Laws	25	(18)
Signs and Minds: An Introduction to the Theory of Semiotic Systems	43	(30)
Language and Mentality: Computational, Representational, and Dispositional Conceptions	73	(28)
PART II: COMPUTERS AND COGNITION
Mental Algorithms: Are Minds Computational Systems?	101	(30)
What Makes Connectionism Different? A Critical Review of Philosophy and Connectionist Theory	131	(22)
People are Not Computers: (Most) Thought processes are Not Computational Procedures	153	(30)
PART III: COMPUTER EPISTEMOLOGY
Program Verification: The Very Idea	183	(38)
Philosophical Aspects of Program Verification	221	(26)
Philosophy and Computer Science: Reflections on the Program Verification Debate	247	(24)
EPILOGUE
Computer Reliability and Public Policy: Limits of Knowledge of Computer-Based Systems	271	(38)
Index of Names	309	(4)
Index of Subjects	313