books — The Brains Blog

3. Literalism (Expanded Somewhat)

Carrie Figdor May 9, 2018 May 7, 2018 animal cognition / Carrie Figdor: Pieces of Mind

Anthropocentric tradition holds that the (somewhat idealized) human case is the standard for what counts as a real instance of a psychological capacity. But even if we learn about minds from the human case, it does not follow that humans are the standard for objectively correct ascriptions. For the Literalist, …

2. The Evidence

Carrie Figdor May 8, 2018 May 7, 2018 Carrie Figdor: Pieces of Mind / Models

In my previous post I set up the problem of how to interpret the uses of psychological predicates in many unexpected domains throughout biology. In this one I will describe in general the evidence on which the extensions are based. I divide this evidence into two types: qualitative analogy and …

1. The Problem

Carrie Figdor May 7, 2018 May 7, 2018 animal cognition / Carrie Figdor: Pieces of Mind / Concepts

I first want to thank John for this opportunity to present and discuss my book with the Brains readership, and for his artful shepherding of the blog in general. I don’t know how he does it, but I’m grateful that he does. So, on to the book. Pieces of Mind …

Now Featured

John Schwenkler May 7, 2018 May 14, 2018 Carrie Figdor: Pieces of Mind

Thanks to Carrie Figdor for blogging this week on Pieces of Mind: The Proper Domain of Psychological Predicates, forthcoming next month from Oxford University Press. To view all her posts on a single page, please click here.

Applications of the Account of the Evolution of Representational Decision Making

Armin Schulz March 22, 2018 April 28, 2021 animal cognition / Armin Schulz: Efficient Cognition / Belief / Cognition / Content / evolution / Folk Psychology / Intentionality / perception / Philosophy of Mind / Philosophy of Science / representation

Today—in my (alas!) last posting—I suggest some ways the account of the evolution of representational decision making laid out in my book (and sketched in outline last time on the blog) can be applied to a number of open questions in philosophy, psychology, and economics. I will focus on three …

The Evolution of Representational Decision Making

Armin Schulz March 21, 2018 April 28, 2021 animal cognition / Armin Schulz: Efficient Cognition / Belief / Cognition / Content / evolution / Folk Psychology / Intentionality / perception / Philosophy of Mind / Philosophy of Science / representation

Why did some organisms switch from relying just on reflexive—i.e. purely perceptually-driven—interactions with the world to also employing the tools of representational decision making? What adaptive and other benefits does the reliance on representational decision making yield? Today, I sketch aspects of the answers to these questions; for more details, …

Foundations of the Investigation of the Evolution of Representational Decision Making

Armin Schulz March 20, 2018 April 28, 2021 animal cognition / Armin Schulz: Efficient Cognition / Belief / Cognition / evolution / Folk Psychology / Intentionality / perception / Philosophy of Mind / Philosophy of Science / representation

Before it is possible to begin the investigation of the evolution of representational decision making it is necessary to address three foundational issues: (1) The nature of representational decision making—what is it that we are investigating? (2) The reality of representational decision making—why think that representational decision making is a …