|
My Papers
Home
- Bio - CV - Hobbies
- Pictures - Projects
- Links
I seem to have misplaced the last two papers.When I find them,
I will put them up. To see forthcoming papers go to projects.
2003
Harnad (1994) identifies the symbol grounding
problem as central to his distinction between cognition
and computation. To Harnad computation is merely the systematically
interpretable manipulation of symbols, while cognition requires
that these symbols have intrinsic meaning that is acquired
through transducers that mediate between a cogitator and
the environment. We present a careful analysis of the role
of these transducers through the misadventures of Steve
Austin, the Six Million Dollar Man. Putting Steve through
a series of scenarios allows us to analyze what role transducers
play in cognition.
2002
Formal methods are central to philosophical
logic. Insofar as philosophical logic relies upon formal
methods to characterize rational thought and its contents,
it is subject to computational constraints: computability
and tractability. Moreover, when modeling human (or other
finite beings) thought, computational issues become decisive.
Computability and complexity are explained and applied to
two-dimensional semantics (as presented by David Chalmers).
Finally, a few ways to work within these constraints are
briefly considered.
Evolutionary psychology is the study of
human cognitive structures and the resultant behaviors
in the light of evolutionary theory. The methodology,
results and very existence of evolutionary psychology
have been objected to on both ethical
and scientific grounds. This essay attempts to address
some of the most important objections to evolutionary
psychology and show them to be either of legitimate concern
or simply mistaken. None of these objections are found
to be defeaters for evolutionary psychology
There is Something About Mary: Qualia,
Knowledge and Representational Physicalism
This paper was written
for a philosophy of mind class. In retrospect it is
embarisingly simplistic and naïve, though I still like
the title and hold something like a representational theory
of mind with Dennettian qualifiers.
Hobbes and Game Theory
A paper written a few
years ago for a history of philosophy class. Hobbes was surprisingly
prescient-- he anticipated some important insights from game
theory, cognitive science and complex systems. This paper
reads too much contemporary thought into Hobbes' philosophy.
|