Associative Engines Connectionism, Concepts, and Representational Change

Author/creator Clark, Andy Author
Format Electronic
Publication InfoCambridge : MIT Press
Description268 p. ill 09.100 x 06.100 in.
Supplemental ContentFull text available from eBooks on EBSCOhost
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Summary Annotation Connectionist approaches, Andy Clark argues, are driving cognitive science toward aradical reconception of its explanatory endeavor. At the heart of this reconception lies a shifttoward a new and more deeply developmental vision of the mind -- a vision that has importantimplications for the philosophical and psychological understanding of the nature of concepts, ofmental causation, and of representational change.Combining philosophicalargument, empirical results, and interdisciplinary speculations, Clark charts a fundamental shiftfrom a static, inner-code-oriented conception of the subject matter of cognitive science to a moredynamic, developmentally rich, process-oriented view. Clark argues that this shift makes itself feltin two main ways. First, structured representations are seen as the products of temporally extendedcognitive activity and not as the representational bedrock (an innate symbol system or language ofthought) upon which all learning is based. Second, the relation between thoughts (as described byfolk psychology) and inner computational states is loosened as a result of the fragmented anddistributed nature of the connectionist representation of concepts.Other issuesClark raises include the nature of innate knowledge, the conceptual commitments of folk psychology,and the use and abuse of higher-level analyses of connectionist networks.
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Technical detailsMode of access: World Wide Web
Genre/formElectronic books.
ISBN9780262513777
ISBN0262513773 (Trade Paper) Active Record
Standard identifier# 9780262513777
Stock number0262513773 00015994

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