Mechanism is not enough

Pragmatics and Cognition 15 (3):573-585 (2007)
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Abstract

I will argue that mechanism is not sufficient to capture representation, thus cognition. More generally, mechanism is not sufficient to capture normativity of any sort. I will also outline a model of emergent normativity, representational normativity in particular, and show how it transcends these limitations of mechanism. To begin, I will address some illustrative attempts to model representation within mechanistically naturalistic frameworks, first rather generally, and then in the cases of the models of Fodor and Millikan.

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Author's Profile

Mark Bickhard
Lehigh University

Citations of this work

Extending Introspection.Lukas Schwengerer - 2021 - In Inês Hipólito, Robert William Clowes & Klaus Gärtner (eds.), The Mind-Technology Problem : Investigating Minds, Selves and 21st Century Artefacts. Springer Verlag. pp. 231-251.
What could cognition be if not computation…Or connectionism, or dynamic systems?Mark H. Bickhard - 2015 - Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology 35 (1):53-66.
The Dilemma of Ahistorical Teleosemantics.Fabian Hundertmark - 2024 - Philosophy of Science 91 (1):58-71.

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