Embodied Cognition

by Shapiro; Lawrence

• ISBN13: 9780415773416
• ISBN10: 0415773415
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-09-22
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Embodied cognition often challenges standard cognitive science. In this outstanding introduction Lawrence Shapiro sets out the central themes and debates surrounding embodied cognition, explaining and assessing the work of many of the key figures in the field, including Jerry Fodor, Hilary Putnam, Andy Clark and John Haugeland.Beginning with an outline of the theoretical and methodological commitments of standard cognitive science, Shapiro then examines philosophical arguments surrounding the traditional perspective. He introduces topics such as dynamic systems theory, vision, attention, memory, and language, before addressing core issues in philosophy of mind such as personal identity and reductionism.Including helpful chapter summaries and annotated further reading at the end of each chapter, Embodied Cognition is essential reading for all students of philosophy of mind and psychology, and cognitive science.

Author Biography

Lawrence Shapiro is Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA. His research currently focuses on the issues and debates around embodied cognition. He is editor [with Brie Gertler] of Arguing About the Mind [2007], also available from Routledge.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations	p. xi
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction: Toward an Understanding of Embodied Cognition	p. 1
Standard Cognitive Science	p. 7
Introduction	p. 7
Newell and Simon's General Problem Solver	p. 7
Descriptive Frameworks	p. 9
Back to General Problem Solver	p. 12
Sternberg's Analysis of Memory Scanning	p. 14
The Computational Vision Program	p. 20
The Solipsistic View	p. 26
Summary	p. 27
Suggested Reading	p. 27
Challenging Standard Cognitive Science	p. 28
Introduction	p. 28
Gibson's Ecological Theory of Perception	p. 29
Structure in Light	p. 30
The Brain's Role in Vision	p. 35
Hatfield's Noncognitive Computationalism	p. 37
The Connectionist Challenge	p. 41
Summary	p. 48
Suggested Reading	p. 50
Conceptions of Embodiment	p. 51
Introduction	p. 51
Varela, Thompson, and Rosch: World Building	p. 52
Thelen: Representation Lite	p. 56
Clark: Thinking with the Body	p. 61
Summary	p. 67
Suggested Reading	p. 69
Embodied Cognition: The Conceptualization Hypothesis	p. 70
Conceptualization	p. 70
Linguistic Determinism	p. 71
The Linguistic Determination of Time Conceptions	p. 72
Sex With Syntax	p. 74
Concepts and Conceptions	p. 76
Testing Hypotheses	p. 79
The Embodiment of Color	p. 81
Embodiment and Metaphor	p. 86
Putting Lakoff and Johnson's Conceptualization Thesis to the Test	p. 89
Second-Generation Cognitive Science	p. 91
The Symbol Grounding Problem	p. 95
The Indexical Hypothesis	p. 98
Perceptual Symbols	p. 98
Affordances	p. 100
Meshing	p. 101
Experimental Evidence for the Indexical Hypothesis: The Action-Sentence Compatibility Effect	p. 102
Assessing the Indexical Hypothesis	p. 104
Meaningfulness in Amodal Representation	p. 104
Sensibility Judgments	p. 106
Standard Cognitive Science and the Action-Sentence Compatibility Effect	p. 107
The Body in the Brain	p. 108
Summary	p. 112
Suggested Reading	p. 113
Embodied Cognition: The Replacement Hypothesis	p. 114
Replacement	p. 114
Dynamical Systems	p. 116
Van Gelder's Dynamical Hypothesis	p. 118
Explaining Watt's Centrifugal Governor	p. 119
The Dynamics of Cognition	p. 124
Categorical Perception from a Dynamical Perspective	p. 127
Do Dynamical Explanations Explain?	p. 133
Replacement and Robotics	p. 137
The Case for Representational Skepticism	p. 141
Are There Representations in the Centrifugal Governor?	p. 144
The Argument for Representational Skepticism	p. 149
The "They're Not Representations!" Argument against Representations	p. 154
Summary	p. 156
Suggested Reading	p. 157
Embodied Cognition: The Constitution Hypothesis	p. 158
Constitution	p. 158
A Quick Refutation of Constitution? The Argument from Envatment	p. 161
Sensorimotor Theories of Perceptual Experience	p. 164
Constituents and Causes	p. 170
More Than Just a Gesture?	p. 173
Coupling and Constitution	p. 175
Extending Cognition Further	p. 178
The Coupling-Constitution Fallacy	p. 179
A Parity Argument for Constitution	p. 182
Against Parity-Meeting The Marks of the Cognitive	p. 184
Mark I: Intrinsic Content	p. 186
Mark II: Causal Processes	p. 189
Extended v. Embedded Cognition	p. 193
Whose Action is it Anyway?	p. 197
Summary	p. 199
Suggested Reading	p. 200
Concluding Thoughts	p. 201
Back to the Decision Tree	p. 201
Conceptualization and Standard Cognitive Science	p. 202
Replacement and Standard Cognitive Science	p. 206
Constitution and Standard Cognitive Science	p. 208
The Final(?) Score	p. 210
Glossary	p. 211
Notes	p. 221
References	p. 227
Index	p. 235
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