Connectionism and the Philosophy of Mind

Connectionism and the Philosophy of Mind PDF Author: T. Horgan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940113524X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information and data processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. One of the most, if not the most, exciting developments within cognitive science has been the emergence of connectionism as an alternative to the computational conception of the mind that tends to dominate the discipline. In this volume, John Tienson and Terence Horgan have brought together a fine collection of stimulating studies on connectionism and its significance. As the Introduction explains, the most pressing questions concern whether or not connectionism can provide a new conception of the nature of mentality. By focusing on the similarities and differences between connectionism and other approaches to cognitive science, the chapters of this book supply valuable resources that advance our understanding of these difficult issues. J.H.F.

Connectionism and the Philosophy of Mind

Connectionism and the Philosophy of Mind PDF Author: T. Horgan
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940113524X
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 484

Get Book Here

Book Description
This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information and data processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. One of the most, if not the most, exciting developments within cognitive science has been the emergence of connectionism as an alternative to the computational conception of the mind that tends to dominate the discipline. In this volume, John Tienson and Terence Horgan have brought together a fine collection of stimulating studies on connectionism and its significance. As the Introduction explains, the most pressing questions concern whether or not connectionism can provide a new conception of the nature of mentality. By focusing on the similarities and differences between connectionism and other approaches to cognitive science, the chapters of this book supply valuable resources that advance our understanding of these difficult issues. J.H.F.

Connectionism and the Philosophy of Psychology

Connectionism and the Philosophy of Psychology PDF Author: Terry Horgan
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 9780262082488
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
In this volume, the authors present their view of cognition. They propose that unlike the classical paradigm that takes the mind to be a computer, the mind is best understood as a dynamical system realized in a neural network.

Supervenience

Supervenience PDF Author: Jaegwon Kim
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351896962
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 427

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Book Description
The International Research library of Philosophy collects in book form a wide range of important and influential essays in philosophy, drawn predominantly from English language journals. Each volume in the library deals with a field of enquiry which has received significant attention in philosophy in the last 25 years and is edited by a philosopher noted in that field.

Individual and Conflict in Greek Ethics

Individual and Conflict in Greek Ethics PDF Author: Nicholas White
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 019152025X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
Nicholas White opposes the long-standard view that ancient Greek ethics is fundamentally different from modern ethical views, especially those prevalent since Kant. Since the eighteenth century, and indeed since before Hegel, moral philosophers wishing to oppose the dualism of rationality-cum-morality vs. inclination, especially as it is manifested in Kant, have looked to Greek thought for an alternative conception of ethical norms and the good life. As a result, Greek ethics, particularly in the so-called Classical period of the fourth century BCE, has for more than two centuries been standardly thought to be fundamentally eudaimonist, and to have the character of what is nowadays normally called the ethics of virtue. White argues that although this picture of Greek ethics is not without an element of truth, it nevertheless seriously distorts the facts. In the first place, Greek thought is far more variegated than the picture suggests. Secondly, it contains many elements — even in the Classical thinkers Plato and Aristotle — that are not eudaimonist and also not suitable for an ethics of virtue. Greek thinkers were not as a group convinced of the possibility of a harmony of one's happiness with full regard for the happiness of others and with conformity to ethical norms. On the contrary, Greek thinkers were well aware of,and took seriously, the idea that ethical norms can possess a force that does not derive from conduciveness to one's own happiness. Indeed, even Plato and Aristotle took it that under certain circumstances there can even be a clash between ethical standards and one's own well-being. The project of completely eliminating the possibility of such a clash came to full development not in the Classical period but rather in the ethics of the Stoics in the third century. Individual and Conflict in Greek Ethics argues that throughout Greek thought the concept of ethics as a source of obligations and imperatives can, in unfavorable circumstances, run counter to one's own happiness. In this sense Greek ethics has a shape similar to that of modern Kantian and post-Kantian thinking, and should not be seen as opposed to it.

Kant's Metaphysics of Morals

Kant's Metaphysics of Morals PDF Author: Mark Timmons
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191583278
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 466

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Book Description
Studies of Kant's moral and political philosophy have increasingly focused on his last major work in ethics, The Metaphysics of Morals. This work is here discussed in seventeen essays by leading contemporary Kant scholars, most of them specially written for this volume. They cover a broad range of topics, including Kant's views on rights, punishment, contract, practical reasoning, revolution, freedom, virtue, legislation, happiness, moral judgement, love, respect, duties to oneself, and motivation. This is the only book devoted entirely to The Metaphysics of Morals and is not just a landmark in Kant studies but also a significant contribution to contemporary moral and political philosophy.

Jacques Derrida

Jacques Derrida PDF Author: Leonard Lawlor
Publisher: Taylor & Francis US
ISBN: 9780415235822
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 386

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Book Description
These three volumes assemble the most important essays written on Jacques Derrida's philosophy since he became established in 1967. These volumes make well-known essays easily available and also present many essays never translated in English.

The Morality of Happiness

The Morality of Happiness PDF Author: Julia Annas
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199879648
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
Ancient ethical theories, based on the notions of virtue and happiness, have struck many as an attractive alternative to modern theories. But we cannot find out whether this is true until we understand ancient ethics--and to do this we need to examine the basic structure of ancient ethical theory, not just the details of one or two theories. In this book, Annas brings together the results of a wide-ranging study of ancient ethical philosophy and presents it in a way that is easily accessible to anyone with an interest in ancient or modern ethics. She examines the fundamental notions of happiness and virtue, the role of nature in ethical justification and the relation between concern for self and concern for others. Her careful examination of the ancient debates and arguments shows that many widespread assumptions about ancient ethics are quite mistaken. Ancient ethical theories are not egoistic, and do not depend for their acceptance on metaphysical theories of a teleological kind. Most centrally, they are recognizably theories of morality, and the ancient disputes about the place of virtue in happiness can be seen as akin to modern disputes about the demands of morality.

Essays on Moral Realism

Essays on Moral Realism PDF Author: Geoffrey Sayre-McCord
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 9780801495410
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Book Description
This collection of influential essays illustrates the range, depth, and importance of moral realism, the fundamental issues it raises, and the problems it faces.

Metaethics after Moore

Metaethics after Moore PDF Author: Terry Horgan
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191515043
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 412

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Book Description
Metaethics, understood as a distinct branch of ethics, is often traced to G. E. Moore's 1903 classic, Principia Ethica. Whereas normative ethics is concerned to answer first order moral questions about what is good and bad, right and wrong, metaethics is concerned to answer second order non-moral questions about the semantics, metaphysics, and epistemology of moral thought and discourse. Moore has continued to exert a powerful influence, and the sixteen essays here (most of them specially written for the volume) represent the most up-to-date work in metaethics after, and in some cases directly inspired by, the work of Moore.

The Case for Contextualism

The Case for Contextualism PDF Author: Keith DeRose
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191619744
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
It's an obvious enough observation that the standards that govern whether ordinary speakers will say that someone knows something vary with context: What we are happy to call "knowledge" in some ("low-standards") contexts we'll deny is "knowledge" in other ("high-standards") contexts. But do these varying standards for when ordinary speakers will attribute knowledge, and for when they are in some important sense warranted in attributing knowledge, reflect varying standards for when it is or would be true for them to attribute knowledge? Or are the standards that govern whether such claims are true always the same? And what are the implications for epistemology if these truth-conditions for knowledge claims shift with context? Contextualism, the view that the epistemic standards a subject must meet in order for a claim attributing "knowledge" to her to be true do vary with context, has been hotly debated in epistemology and philosophy of language during the last few decades. In The Case for Contextualism Keith DeRose offers a sustained state-of-the-art exposition and defense of the contextualist position, presenting and advancing the most powerful arguments in favor of the view and against its "invariantist" rivals, and responding to the most pressing objections facing contextualism.