Neoconstructivism: A Unifying Constraint for the Cognitive Sciences
Harnad, Stevan (1982) Neoconstructivism: A Unifying Constraint for the Cognitive Sciences, Erlbaum
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Description/Abstract
ABSTRACT: Behavioral scientists studied behavior; cognitive scientists study what generates behavior. Cognitive science is hence theoretical behaviorism (or behaviorism is experimental cognitivism). Behavior is data for a cognitive theorist. What counts as a theory of behavior? In this paper, a methodological constraint on theory construction -- "neoconstructivism" -- will be proposed (by analogy with constructivism in mathematics): Cognitive theory must be computable; given an encoding of the input to a behaving system, a theory must be able to compute (an encoding of) its outputs. It is a mistake to conclude, however, that this constraint requires cognitive theory to be computational, or that it follows from this that cognition is computation.
| Item Type: | Book |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Address: Hillsdale NJ US |
| Keywords: | behaviorism, cognition, computation, explanation, modeling |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Physical and Applied Science > Electronics and Computer Science > Web & Internet Science |
| Item ID: | 250383 |
| Date Deposited: | 04 May 1999 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Mar 2012 13:39 |
| Contributors: | Harnad, Stevan (Author) Simon, T (Editor) Scholes, R (Editor) |
| Date: | 1982 |
| Additional Information: | Address: Hillsdale NJ US |
| Status: | Published |
| Publisher: | Erlbaum |
| Further Information: | Google Scholar |
| URI: | http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/250383 |
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