Philosophy & Cognitive Science - Part 2

Philosophy & Cognitive Science

“The Part of Cognitive Science That is Philosophy”
December 12, 2018

This is the second of a two-part Philosophy of Mind MeetUp, we will continue to focus our discussion on one question: Is cognitive science a threat to our everyday psychology (folk psychology)?

In part 1 (November), we examined the goal of cognitive science to provide a physical explanation for thinking by reading Professor Zenon Pylyshyn’s essay (reference 4). We came up with the following result: The goal of cognitive science is to explain intelligent behavior by reference to the mind and to explain the mind by reference to the brain.

In part 2 (December 12), we will explore the threat posed by cognitive science by reading Daniel Dennet’s essay on the topic (reference 6). His essay is entitled “The Part of Cognitive Science is Philosophy” You should try to read all 5 pages of Dennett’s essay. You may also want to read my comments on Dennett’s essay (reference 7).

In philosophy, this question is usually approached by exploring the definition of folk psychology (references 1 and 2). In our two meetings, we will approach the question from the other direction. We will explore the definition of cognitive science.

According to the MIT Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, cognitive science is the scientific study of the human mind. It is an interdisciplinary field, combining ideas and methods from psychology, computer science, linguistics, philosophy, and neuroscience. The goal of cognitive science is to characterize the nature of human knowledge. The department makes a point of claiming that a line cannot be drawn between understanding the mind and understanding the brain. “[They] are ultimately inseparable” (reference 3).

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To help support the Democracy Center, a voluntary donation will be requested at the meeting.

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Reference 1:
“Folk Psychology”
Lynne Baker
The MIT Encyclopedia of the Cognitive Sciences
Robert A. Wilson and Frank C. Keil, editors
MIT (1999)
https://people.umass.edu/lrb/files/bak99folP.pdf

Reference 2:
“Folk Psychology”
Stephen Stich & Shaun Nichols
Stephen Stich & Ted A. Warfield, eds.,
The Blackwell Guide to Philosophy of Mind (2003)
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~stich/Publications/Papers/FolkPsychology.pdf

Reference 3:
Definition of cognitive science according to MIT-BCS
https://bcs.mit.edu/research/cognitive-science

Reference 4:
“What is Cognitive Science?”
Zenon Pylyshyn
http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/images/personal-zenon-pylyshyn/proseminars/Proseminar13/WhatIsCogsci.pdf
https://phil100dm15.files.wordpress.com/2015/07/pylyshyn-whats-in-your-mind.pdf

Reference 5:
My Comments on ‘What is Cognitive Science?’
https://www.dropbox.com/s/rc98fklws0tof8g/My%20Comments%20on%20%E2%80%98What%20is%20Cognitive%20Science%E2%80%99.pdf?dl=0

Reference 6:
‘The Part of Cognitive Science That Is Philosophy”
Daniel Dennett
Topics in Cognitive Science (2009)
https://ase.tufts.edu/cogstud/dennett/papers/tops_1015.pdf

Reference 7:
My Comments on ‘The Part of Cognitive Science That Is Philosophy’
https://www.dropbox.com/s/8shi16i2dc0or8w/My%20Comments%20on%20%27The%20Part%20of%20Cognitive%20Science%20that%20is%20Philosophy%27.pdf?dl=0