Symbols, Computation, and Intentionality: A Critique of the Computational Theory of Mind

by Steven Horst

Overview

The computational theory of mind--the belief that the mind can be likened to a computer and that cognitive states possess the generative and compositional properties of natural languages--has proven enormously influential in recent philosophical studies of cognition. In this carefully argued critique, Steven Horst pronounces the theory deficient. He refutes its claims and assumptions, particularly the assertion that symbolic representations need not have conventional meaning. Horst goes on to sketch a new methodology for looking at the philosophy of psychology, one that provides a more fruitful way of comparing computational psychology with rival views emerging from connectionism and neuroscience. Original and comprehensive, his book is certain to provoke controversy and stimulate debate.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940013012363
Publisher:	Steven Horst
Publication date:	09/08/2011
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	340
File size:	993 KB

About the Author

Steven Horst is Professor of Philosophy at Wesleyan University

Editorial Reviews

I highly recommend this book to anyone...interested in cognitive science and the philosophy of mind. Those readers who...are suspicious of the very wide acceptance of token physicalism and of...naturalizing the mental will find useful suggestions for further projects in many of the things that Horst suggests

Hans Müller

[Horst's] surgical disentangling of the scientific value of CTM from its philosophical pretensions grounds an impressive, insightful, and well-supported account (consistent with, if not directly inspired by, that of Wittgenstein) of ordinary mental discourse and its relation to scientific explanation.

John Black

This book is original and lucid in its argumentation, and its defense of the conventionalist analysis of symbols is detailed and comprehensive.

Ausanio Marras