Neoconstructivism: A Unifying Constraint for the Cognitive Sciences

Harnad, Stevan (1982). « Neoconstructivism: A Unifying Constraint for the Cognitive Sciences », dans Language, mind and brain, sous la dir. de Simon, T. et Scholes, R.. New Jersey, Erlbaum, pp. 1-11.

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Résumé

Behavioral scientists studied behavior; cognitive scientists study what generates behavior. Cognitive science is hence theoretical behaviorism (or behaviorism is experimental cognitivism). Behavior is data for a cognitive theorist. What counts as a theory of behavior? In this paper, a methodological constraint on theory construction -- "neoconstructivism" -- will be proposed (by analogy with constructivism in mathematics): Cognitive theory must be computable; given an encoding of the input to a behaving system, a theory must be able to compute (an encoding of) its outputs. It is a mistake to conclude, however, that this constraint requires cognitive theory to be computational, or that it follows from this that cognition is computation.

Type:	Chapitre de livre
Mots-clés ou Sujets:	cognition, explication, computation, computationalism
Unité d'appartenance:	Faculté des sciences humaines > Département de psychologie Instituts > Institut des sciences cognitives (ISC)
Déposé par:	Stevan Harnad
Date de dépôt:	24 sept. 2007
Dernière modification:	20 avr. 2009 14:27
Adresse URL :	http://archipel.uqam.ca/id/eprint/105

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