The paper traces the development of the term behavior from its first appearance in the English language to the nineteenth century, showing that its primary meaning was always morally tinged. In late nineteenth century America, however, conceptions of morality shifted from being defined by transcendental rules to being defined by deviations from statistical norms. At the same time, the focus of psychology shifted from the study of consciousness to what organisms do, and psychologists redefined their field as the study of (...) behavior, the term having been drained of all moral significance, ready for use by value-neutral science. (shrink)

Fundamentals of Cognitive Science draws on research from psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, linguistics, and neuroscience to provide an engaging and student-friendly introduction to this interdisciplinary field. Whilst structured around traditional cognitive psychology, the book also looks at cognitive neuroscience, and magic.

Argues that Newton's influence on psychology has been broad and profound, if not always acknowledged. From the Enlightenment onward, most philosophers and psychologists have tried to be "Newtons of the Mind," trying to do psychology as Newton did physics, stressing mathematics and mechanism. No Newton has arrived in psychology, but we go on waiting nonetheless. But Newton's influence has been deeper than this, because he defined the modern style in science and ushered in a revolutionary concept of the universe and (...) humans' relation to it. Newton's great influence has tended, especially in English-speaking psychology, to crowd out or depreciate other visions of psychology such as Wittgenstein and hermeneutics that do not conform to the Newtonian ideal of science. It is suggested that Newton, like Beckett's Godot, may never arrive. (shrink)