4. Conceptual Emergence and Neural Networks

Conceptual emergence occurs when, in order to understand or effectively represent some phenomenon, a different representational apparatus must be introduced at the current working level. Such changes in representation are common in the sciences but it has usually been considered in connection with changes in synchronic representations. Here, I’ll consider …

In Memoriam: Hubert Dreyfus

Hubert L. Dreyfus, for nearly 50 years a professor of philosophy at UC Berkeley, died this past Saturday.

As many will know, Dreyfus was an early critic of artificial intelligence and an influential interpreter of Martin Heidegger and other phenomenologists. More recently he challenged John McDowell’s conceptualist accounts of perception and action with arguments that drew on his reading of Merleau-Ponty and longstanding interests in the phenomenology of skill. He will be sorely missed.

For more on Bert’s life, his teaching, and what made his approach to philosophy so revolutionary, here is a lengthy obituary by his student Sean Dorrance Kelly.

The Unexplained Intellect: Consequences of Imperfection

The previous post argued that Theoretical Computer Science can show things to be naturalistically inexplicable—(where this is much stronger than showing them to be inexplicable with a Classically Computational Theory)—by showing those things to require more time than the universe allows.  I’ve not yet said anything about which things might …

Wednesday Links

Apologies for a few weeks of vacation-induced silence. Thanks to Philipp et al. for an excellent symposium, and Kristina and Jakob for what promise to be a very stimulating couple of weeks. I’ll continue posting links periodically through the summer. – JS The unanimous selection for the Philosophical Explorations Essay Prize 2014 is …

Monday Links

The  163rd Philosophers’ Carnival is here. NYU’s David Amodio in Mother Jones on our racist brains. (h/t Robert Barnard on Facebook) Eric Schwitzgebel asks: Is early publication bad for philosophy? (h/t Eric S. on Facebook) Is there mathematical “proof” that computers can’t be conscious?* (h/t Don Howard on Facebook) German neuroscientists have …

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