Challenging Kirchhoff on the Semantics of Models and TheoriesZoe DraysonThe bold claim at the heart of Kirchhoff’s (2025) The Idealized Mind is that some scientific theories are neither true nor false. This makes Kirchhoff one of the very few philosophers since the logical empiricists to deny semantic realism: the view …
“Milk production at a dairy farm was low, so the farmer wrote to the local university, asking for help. A multidisciplinary team of professors was assembled, headed by a theoretical physicist, and two weeks of intensive on-site investigation took place. The scholars then returned to the university, where the task …
This week, we are featuring a symposium on Michael D. Kirchhoff’s book, The Idealized Mind. There will be amazing commentaries from Zoe Drayson, Frances Egan, Corey Maley, and Karl Friston, and corresponding Kirchoff responses each day throughout the week, so make sure to check back frequently. Please join us!
Brains Blog Symposium on Concepts at the Interface Author’s Reply to Commentaries Nicholas SheaInstitute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of Londonnicholas.shea@sas.ac.uk Reply to Sarah Fisher Turning to Sarah Fisher’s helpful commentary, she raises a challenging question about concepts in LLMs. I was very pleased to have a chance …
Brains Blog Symposium on Concepts at the Interface Author’s Reply to Commentaries Nicholas SheaInstitute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of Londonnicholas.shea@sas.ac.uk Many thanks to Eric, Johan and Gualtiero, and Sarah for their thoughtful commentaries. Their kind words about the book are also much appreciated. It’s great that they …
Distinctively HumanSarah Fisher In Concepts at the Interface, Shea offers us a compelling account of what concepts are and why they matter. His nuanced and careful treatment captures the function and feel of offline deliberation, ranging from abstract logical reasoning to building concrete suppositional scenarios. The puzzle motivating Shea’s analysis …
Predication as Structural Representation; Concepts as Information Compression-Decompression HubsJohan Heemskerk and Gualtiero Piccinini Shea’s new book, Concepts at the Interface, is a trove of important ideas. To give just a few examples: Shea draws several important distinctions that criss-cross existing categories though arguably cutting deeper – such as the distinction …
