The Future of the Cognitive Revolution [Paperback]

David Martel Johnson (Editor), Christina Erneling (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 1997 | ISBN-10: 0195103343 | ISBN-13: 978-0195103342 | Edition: 1

The basic idea of the particular way of understanding mental phenomena that has inspired the "cognitive revolution" is that, as a result of certain relatively recent intellectual and technological innovations, informed theorists now possess a more powerfully insightful comparison or model for mind than was available to any thinkers in the past. The model in question is that of software, or the list of rules for input, output, and internal transformations by which we determine and control the workings of a computing machine's hardware. Although this comparison and its many implications have dominated work in the philosophy, psychology, and neurobiology of mind since the end of the Second World War, it now shows increasing signs of losing its once virtually unquestioned preeminence. Thus we now face the question of whether it is possible to repair and save this model by means of relatively inessential "tinkering", or whether we must reconceive it fundamentally and replace it with something different. In this book, twenty-eight leading scholars from diverse fields of "cognitive science"-linguistics, psychology, neurophysiology, and philosophy- present their latest, carefully considered judgements about what they think will be the future course of this intellectual movement, that in many respects has been a watershed in our contemporary struggles to comprehend that which is crucially significant about human beings. Jerome Bruner, Noam Chomsky, Margaret Boden, Ulric Neisser, Rom Harre, Merlin Donald, among others, have all written chapters in a non-technical style that can be enjoyed and understood by an inter-disciplinary audience of psychologists, philosophers, anthropologists, linguists, and cognitive scientists alike.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The 25 chapters and related introductions in The Future of the Cognitive Revolution provide one of the finest compilations of current issues and perspectives within cognitive science. . . . [It] is written in clear and accessible language intended for a wide audience. The editors, Johnson and Erneling, provide masterful introductions to book sections and a general Introduction and Afterword that help the reader to have an overview and navigate through the book. The book could be used in an upper level undergraduate course or a graduate seminar on cognition, or subsets of chapters could be easily incorporated into graduate seminars in related disciplines. I highly recommend this book for new entrants into cognitive science as well as for seasoned researchers. This book should not be ignored."--Contemporary Psychology

"[T]he use of any formal language automatizes and standardizes human thinking. From that point of view, the computer is not a model or a partner for the human mind. It is only an invention that . . . supports human mental skills. If we assume that the chapters presented in parts four and five of The Future of the Cognitive Revolution are something that can influence the mainstream of cognitive science, then we can say that cognitive revolution has a future. This future is the realization that culture together with its psychophysical products . . . constitute the environment of individual minds, that we cannot separate human thought from human action in a particular environment: 'All action involves some amount of awareness, as well as vice versa' (270). Over and above all that, I may say that The Future of the Cognitive Revolution is a consistent collection of more than thirty very good papers written by outstanding authors."--Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences

"Instructive and fun. A valuable supplement."--Choice

About the Author

David Johnson is at York University. Christina Erneling is at Umea University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1 edition (April 24, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195103343
• ISBN-13: 978-0195103342
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,008,635 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From a Computer Scientist to Cognitive Scientists, December 2, 1999

By 

J. Palacios (Texas, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Future of the Cognitive Revolution (Paperback)

This is a very well organized collection of papers. It is written in a language that is accessible to a broad audience. The introductions to book sections are excellent (or, "masterful," as R. Taraban puts it in CONTEMPORARY PSYCHOLOGY, 1998, Vol. 43, No. 10, p. 681). The best thing about this book is its coverage of current issues and perspectives in Cognitive Science. I recommend this book as an introductory reading assignment for a graduate course in Artificial Intelligence.