How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science

by Valerie Gray Hardcastle

Overview

Articulates a method for integrating the individual disciplines that compose the cognitive sciences so that unified interdisciplinary theories are possible.

How to Build a Theory in Cognitive Science specifies the characteristics of fruitful interdisciplinary theories in cognitive science and shows how they differ from the successful theories in the individual disciplines composing the cognitive sciences. It articulates a method for integrating the various disciplines successfully so that unified, truly interdisciplinary theories are possible.

This book makes three contributions of utmost importance. First, it provides a long overdue, systematic examination of the field of cognitive science itself. Second, it provides a template for linking domains without loss of autonomy. This philosophical treatment of integration serves as a blueprint for future endeavors. Third, the book provides a solid theoretical foundation that will prevent future missteps and enhance collaboration.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780791428863
Publisher:	State University of New York Press
Publication date:	04/11/1996
Series:	SUNY series in Philosophy and Biology
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	259
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.00(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Valerie Gray Hardcastle is Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments


1. Cognitive Science Is Not Cognitive Psychology


2. The Dilemma of Mental Causality


Mental States as Higher Level Properties
Privileged Regularities and Ceteris Paribus Clauses
Screening off Causes
Ignoring the Realism/Antirealism Debate


3. Hierarchies in the Brain


The Neuron
The Methodological Individualism/Anti-Individualism Debate
Hierarchies in Neuroscience
"Privileged" Causality in Neuroscience
Explanation in Cognitive Science


4. Computationalism and Functional Analysis: A Pragmatic Approach


Formal Accounts of Computationalism
Computational Satisfaction and True Computation
Functionalism and Functional Analysis
Philosophical Functionalism
An Example
The Function/Structure Distinction


5. Reductionism in the Cognitive Sciences


Reductionism in Philosophy of Mind
Arguments against Reductionism
Cognitive Theories of Emotion: A Test Case
Explanatory Extension


6. The Dual Memory Hypothesis and the Structure of Interdisciplinary Theories


Developmental Studies for a Dual Processing System
The Distinction between Implicit and Explicit Memory
Neural Evidence for the Dual Memory Hypothesis
The Theoretical Framework
"Two-Part" Interdisciplinary Theories
Putting It All Together


7. Interdisciplinary Theories and Bridge Sciences: The Case of Event Related Potentials


The Challenge
ERPs
The Timing of Priming
Bridge Sciences


Appendix: Cognitive Science and the Semantic View


Notes


References


Index

Editorial Reviews

A partly descriptive and partly normative manual on constructing theories that are useful in the whole range of cognitive science. Specifies the characteristics of such an interdisciplinary theory an how it differs from theories in the individual disciplines. Provides a systematic overview of cognitive science as a whole and a method for integrating its various disciplines so that a unified theory is possible. The methodology is supported by a theoretical foundation to help researchers avoid mistakes. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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