COG250Week1Notes

IntroductiontoCognitiveScienceandtheNaturalisticImperative

Therearemanydifferentdisciplinesthattrytodefine&describewhatthemindis.Thegoalof
cognitivescienceistofigureoutwhattherelationshipisbetweenthesedifferentdisciplines.

Mind:
BrainBiological,chemistry,neuroscience
BehaviourPsychology
DistributedCognitionLinguisticsandAnthropology
CognitionComputerScience,howinfoisprocessed

WhatseemstobemissingisPhilosophy:Weneedthisfieldtochallengeassumptionsof
differentdisciplines.

Eachdisciplinehasadifferentlanguagetodescribedifferentlevelsanddifferentwaysof
retrievingdata/info.

Cognition
Bythedesignmodel,ifwecanmakemachinesthatprocessinformationinanintelligentway,
thenwecanunderstandhowthebraindoes.

Differentlevelsofhowtodescribethemind
(Topbeingbest,mostplausible,bottombeingmostnaive)

SynopticIntegration
ByperformingSynopticIntegration,wecreatealanguageandwaytocommunicatebetween
disciplines.Thisleadstoimportantinsights.

InterdisciplinaryEclecticism
Theindependentdisciplinesthatattempttodefineanddescribethemindwillbeuntouched.
Eclecticismmeanstogetfrommultiplesources.Inthiscontext,itmeanstogetinsightsfrom
differentdisciplines.Problem:Thismethodisunstable

GenericNominalism
Thisapproachfailstotakeintoaccountthedisciplinesneedtocommunicateeachother.Thus,
withthislens,eachdisciplineisitsownsilo.

OnthetopicofMetaphors
Samisapig.UsesthewordpigtodescribeSam.Here,thewordpigshowswhatis
salient/importantandformsanewinsightaboutSam

Ourgoalhereistohavetheperfectaptnessofametaphor.Toosimilaranditdoesnt
emphasizewhatthesubjectisabout,toodifferentanditjustseemscrazy.

Eg:Beesarehornetsandargumentsarechairs.lul

Point:Weneedtherightbalanceofmetaphorstoformnewinsights.Theideaistohave
familiaritytodescribetheunfamiliar.

Integration
(andaptnessimportantinit)

Kitcher(philosopher)

TakeforexampleF=ma.Youcanapplytheformulatovirtuallyunlimitednumberofsituationsin
theworld.Thisissaidtohavemultiaptness.F=madescribesanunlimitednumberof
situationsthusprovidingnewinsights.Thisaffordsintegration.Whatismeantbythatisthe
equationincreasestheexplanatorypowerinanintegratedmannerieappliedtomanydifferent
situations.

Keil(psychologist)
*Prof.Vervaekes3Dglassesstory:Childrenreachingoutandtryingtotouchthe3Dimages
theyseeonthescreenasifitwasreal

(Refertohandwrittennotesfordiagramsifneeded)
Convergence&TrustworthinessofourData
>[explanations,equations,insight,constructetc]
>Multiaptnessthroughelegance.

Ifthereislotsofconvergencebutlittleaptness,constructissaidtobetrivial
Ifthereislittleconvergencewithlotsofconclusions(notnecessarilyaptness),theconstructis
saidtobefarfetched.

Keil:Wewanthighlyconvergentconstructs.Wealsowantourconstructstobeshapedformany
differentsituationsinanelegantmanner.

Thisiswherewegetsomethingthatisn'tnecessarilyauniversal,infallibletruth,butratherisit
plausible.Tobeplausibleistohaveabalanceofdeepconvergenceandelegance.Cogsci
wantstrust.

Cognitivescienceattemptstoinjectrigourinourapproachtofindingplausibleconstructs.

Normativitywhichgovernscognitivescience.

Thisiscool:Prof.Vervakesaidthatinhumanknowledge,thisisagapinghole.Thatholeisthe
cognitiveexplanationofhowwefindscientificconstructs.Yes,weashumansarereallygoodat
findingouthowtoscience,howtocomeupwithexplanations,formula,equations,etcfor
scientificconstructs,butwedontknowhowwecomeupwithsuchgold.

NaturalisticImperative
(Recap:Analysis,Formalize,Mechanize)

Thales
1)Allismoist
2)Theloadstonehaspsyche
3)EverythingisfullofGods

1)Narrativeexplanationstogettoabasisusinganalysis
2)Theultimateforce

Thales>theideaofanalysis
Descartes>Theideaofformalizing

Withformalization,wecanexplainmentalinnonmentalterms.IEexplainXinnonX
vocabulary/terms

Turing>Theideaofmechanizingthementalstates

Weashumanshavedifferentbiases,waysofthinking,andlotsofbarriers/factorsthatdont
allowotherstogettothecoreofourminds.Bymechanizingthehumanmind(againbythe
designprincipleofifwedesignitperfectly,weunderstanditperfectly),wecanbypassallthat
protectsthemind.

ConclusionofLecture
Cognitivescienceisformedfromtakingfromdifferentdisciplines,creatingplausibleconstructs
forunderstandingthemindandcognition.Here,theultimategoalisnaturalisticimperative
explanationofthemindandcognitive.Wewanttocompletelyavoidtheusageofthe
homunculusfallacy,theideathatthereissomeoneelseinsideourmindsthatalreadyknows
whatistobeprocessedinourminds.

Wearecurrentlyinthefinalstagesofthenaturalisticimperative.Withtheadvancesofresearch
inAI,wearenearing,albeitstillfarfrom,mechanizingthemindliterally.Onceweve

mechanized,wehaveaplausibleconstructofunderstandinghowthebrainworksbasedonthe
designprinciple.

Misc
Recursionwithoutgainingknowledgeatacertainleveliswhatmakesthehomunculusfallacy
bad.