Skip to main content

The Computational Mind

This post was co-authored by Matteo Colombo, an Assistant Professor in the Tilburg Center for Logic, Ethics and Philosophy of Science, at Tilburg University in The Netherlands, and Mark Sprevak, Senior Lecturer in the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences at the University of Edinburgh. 

They share research interests in philosophy of the cognitive sciences and philosophy of science in general. Here they write about their new co-edited volume “The Routledge Handbook of the Computational Mind”.


The book aims to provide a comprehensive, state-of-the-art treatment of the history, foundations, challenges, applications, and prospects for computational ideas regarding mind, brain, and behaviour. There are thirty-five chapters from contributors across philosophy and the sciences. It is organized into four parts:

1.     History and future prospects of computational approaches

2.     Types of computational approach

3.     Foundations and challenges of computational approaches

4.     Applications to specific parts of psychology

You can read a sample chapter here.

The Handbook displays several common threads. We want to mention three, each reflecting a departure from traditional thinking about the computational mind. 


First, instead of there being “only one game in town” (Fodor, 1975), there are now many different computational approaches to explaining mind, brain, and behaviour. Researchers are moving towards ‘pluralism’ about computational models: the explanatory and practical aims of studying the mind are best pursued with many theories, models, concepts, methods, and sources of evidence from different fields. Traditional dichotomies like representationalism vs anti-representationalism, logicism vs probability, and innate vs learned have become unhelpful as a way of carving out commitments of “the” computational approach. 

Second, recent work on the computational mind reflects broader trends within philosophy of science that should be familiar to those working in philosophy of the special sciences. Examples include the search for models and mechanisms, the role of idealization and approximation in modelling, and the influence of values and social structures in understanding our scientific goals. Such work tends to focus attention on the explanatory role of computational models in actual scientific practice and move attention away from more traditional questions about the metaphysics of mind.

Third, recent years have seen a massive increase in our computing power. Technological change has contributed to advances in machine learning and brain simulation. This has inspired models of brain function based around statistical inference, deep learning, reinforcement learning, predictive processing, and related probabilistic notions. Despite these successes however, the question of how to simulate general human intelligence on a computer remains unanswered.

We see The Routledge Handbook of the Computational Mind as doing three things. First, it offers a “time capsule” of current trends, marking points of departure and continuity with respect to traditional treatments. Second, it informs readers of the accomplishments and challenges of current computational approaches. Third, it is a teaching resource, appropriate for a variety of graduate-level courses in philosophy of mind, cognitive science, computational cognitive neuroscience, AI, and computer science.

We hope you enjoy reading it!

Matteo Colombo
Mark Sprevak



Labels:

Popular posts from this blog

Delusions in the DSM 5

This post is by Lisa Bortolotti. How has the definition of delusions changed in the DSM 5? Here are some first impressions. In the DSM-IV (Glossary) delusions were defined as follows: Delusion. A false belief based on incorrect inference about external reality that is firmly sustained despite what almost everyone else believes and despite what constitutes incontrovertible and obvious proof or evidence to the contrary. The belief is not one ordinarily accepted by other members of the person's culture or subculture (e.g., it is not an article of religious faith). When a false belief involves a value judgment, it is regarded as a delusion only when the judgment is so extreme as to defy credibility.
Read more

Motivated Reasoning in Science

Today's post is by Josh May (University of Alabama, Birmingham). In this post, he talks about one of his papers published in Synthese and entitled " Bias in Science ". Josh May Much discussion of the replication crisis in science has focused on the social sciences, particularly psychology. A common narrative is that the social sciences are particularly susceptible to powerful biases, such as moral and political ideology. I argue instead for a parity thesis: all areas of science are subject to bias, through the general psychological mechanism of motivated reasoning . This provides a unified framework for understanding how values influence the entire scientific enterprise. The scientific process involves numerous decisions that can be influenced by one's values--including moral, political, and prudential values--which manifest as goals or motivations. A researcher wants badly, say, to publish in a prestigious journal in order to either advance her career or maintain ...
Read more

Models of Madness

In today's post John Read  (in the picture above) presents the recent book he co-authored with Jacqui Dillon , titled Models of Madness: Psychological, Social and Biological Approaches to Psychosis. My name is John Read. After 20 years working as a Clinical Psychologist and manager of mental health services in the UK and the USA, mostly with people experiencing psychosis, I joined the University of Auckland, New Zealand, in 1994. There I published over 100 papers in research journals, primarily on the relationship between adverse life events (e.g., child abuse/neglect, poverty etc.) and psychosis. I also research the negative effects of bio-genetic causal explanations on prejudice, and the role of the pharmaceutical industry in mental health. In February I moved to Melbourne and I now work at Swinburne University of Technology.  I am on the on the Executive Committee of the International Society for Psychological and Social Approaches to Psychosis and am the Editor...
Read more