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How do brains make minds? Paul Thagard's
Brain-Mind presents a unified, brain-based theory of cognition and emotion with applications to the most complex kinds of thinking, right up to consciousness and creativity. Neural mechanisms are used to explain mental operations for analogy, action, intention, language, and the self.
Sommario
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1. What are Minds?
- Why Minds Matter
- What are Minds?
- Cognitive Science
- Representations and Processes
- Mechanisms
- Looking Ahead
- Summary
- Notes to Chapter 1: Minds
- 2. How Brains Make Minds
- Why Brains Matter to Mind and Society
- Thinking with Cells
- Neurons
- Neural Groups
- Combining Neural Representations
- Semantic Pointers
- The Semantic Pointer Architecture
- Innateness versus Learning
- Summary and Discussion
- Appendix: Details and Comparisons
- Notes to Chapter 2: Brains
- 3. Perception and Imagery
- Why Perception and Imagery Matter to Mind and Society
- From Sensation to Perception to Imagery
- External Senses
- Internal Senses
- Imagery
- Mental Mechanisms for Imagery
- Neural Mechanisms for Imagery
- Uses of Imagery
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 3: Perception
- 4. Concepts
- Why Concepts Matter to Mind and Society
- Theories of Concepts
- Neural Mechanisms for Concepts
- Uses of Concepts
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 4: Concepts
- 5. Rules
- Why Rules Matter to Mind and Society
- Mental Mechanisms for Rules
- Neural Mechanisms for Rules
- Uses of Rules
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 5: Rules
- 6. Analogies
- Why Analogies Matter to Mind and Society
- Mental Mechanisms for Analogy
- Neural Mechanisms for Analogy
- Uses of Analogies
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 6: Analogies
- 7. Emotions
- Why Emotions Matter to Mind and Society
- Psychological Theories of Emotion
- Neural Mechanisms for Emotions
- Uses of Emotions
- How Emotions Change
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 7: Emotions
- 8. Consciousness
- Why Consciousness Matters to Mind and Society
- Psychological Theories of Consciousness
- Neural Mechanisms for Consciousness
- Uses of Consciousness
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 8: Consciousness
- 9. Action and Intention
- Why Actions Matter to Mind and Society
- Psychological Theories of Action, Intention, and Will
- Neural Mechanisms for Action and Intention
- Uses of Action and Intention
- The Will
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 9: Action
- 10. Language
- Why Language Matters to Mind and Society
- Syntax First: Chomsky
- Integrating Syntax, Semantics, and Phonology
- Meaning
- Conceptual Blending
- Metaphor
- Innateness and Language Learning
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 10: Language
- 11. Creativity
- Why Creativity Matters to Mind and Society
- What is Creativity?
- Images
- Concepts
- Rules
- Procedural Creativity
- Analogies and Metaphors
- Emotions
- Case Study: CRISPR/Cas9
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 11: Creativity
- 12. The Self
- Why the Self Matters to Mind and Society
- What is the Self?
- Semantic Pointers for Self-Representation
- Semantic Pointer Mechanisms for Self-Effecting and Self-Changing
- Multilevel Systems
- Molecular Mechanisms
- Social Mechanisms
- Summary and Discussion
- Notes to Chapter 12: Self
- References
- Index
Info autore
Paul Thagard is a distinguished philosopher and cognitive scientist who has written many books, including The Brain and the Meaning of Life (Princeton University Press, 2010) and The Cognitive Science of Science (MIT Press, 2012). He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Cognitive Science Society, and the Association for Psychological Science.
Riassunto
How do brains make minds? Paul Thagard presents a unified, brain-based theory of cognition and emotion with applications to the most complex kinds of thinking, right up to consciousness and creativity. Neural mechanisms are used to explain mental operations for analogy, action, intention, language, and the self.
Brain-Mind develops a brilliant account of mental operations using promising new ideas from theoretical neuroscience. Single neurons cannot do much by themselves, but groups of neurons work together to accomplish powerful kinds of mental representation, including concepts, images, and rules.
Minds enable people to perceive, imagine, solve problems, understand, learn, speak, reason, create, and be emotional and conscious. Competing explanations of how the mind works have identified it as soul, computer, brain, dynamical system, or social construction. This book explains minds in terms of interacting mechanisms operating at multiple levels, including the social, mental, neural, and molecular. Unification comes from systematic application of Chris Eliasmith's powerful Semantic Pointer Architecture, a highly original synthesis of neural network and symbolic ideas about how the mind works.
This book belongs to a trio that includes Mind-Society: From Brains to Social Sciences and Professions and Natural Philosophy: From Social Brains to Knowledge, Reality, Morality, and Beauty. They can be read independently, but together they make up a Treatise on Mind and Society that provides a unified and comprehensive treatment of the cognitive sciences, social sciences, professions, and humanities.
Testo aggiuntivo
A readable overview of the philosophy of cognitive science and its goal of establishing mechanistic or computational models of cognition and emotion."
