On Egan’s Conception of Computation Oron Shagrir In Deflating Mental Representation, Frances Egan advances an exemplary account that combines realism about the computational vehicles of mental representations with anti-realism regarding their content. While the more contentious thesis concerns content, my focus is on Egan’s conception of computation, which has shaped much of the ongoing debate on physical …
Brains Blog precis of Deflating Mental Representation In the book I propose what I call a deflationary account of mental representation, characterized by three claims: (1) Construing a mental (or neural) state as a representation does not presuppose a special, substantive relation (or relations) – what we can call a representation relation – holding between the state and what the representation is about, for example, the …
Join us this week for our first event of the year, another fantastic book symposium! This time, we have Frankie Egan discussing her new book, Deflating Mental Representation. We have three great commentaries from Oron Shagrir, Caitlin Mace and Adina Roskies, and Mazviita Chirimuuta, along with responses from Frankie. Feel free …
See below for upcoming events at Neural Mechanisms Online. You can join the events by joining the mailing list; to do so email neuralmechanisms@gmail.com. Neural Mechanisms Online 2026 Monday 19 January 2026 (4.30-7PM CET*) : Online book Symposium on Neurocognitive Foundations of Mind (H 4-6PM CET*)Monday 16 February 2026 Denny …
Please join us as we wrap up the year with a special roundtable. The Brains Blog recently passed it’s 20th anniversary! The managing editors from all 20 years of the blog got together for a brief chat about the history of the blog and where it’s going.
The Idealized Mind (2025) suggests that the free energy principle (FEP) in theoretical neuroscience unifies all the different arguments covered in the book. The FEP is a GUT in more than one way. Friston’s commentary opens with the physicists’ spherical cow. In The Idealized Mind, chapter 9 seeks to establish …
The Physics of ‘As If’ Karl Friston11 Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University of College London 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 …
