Seeing Reason: Diagrams and languages in learning to think (Oxford Cognitive Science Series) [Hardcover]

Keith Stenning (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 31, 2002 | ISBN-10: 0198507739 | ISBN-13: 978-0198507734

Seeing Reason is an interdisciplinary study of a central topic in cognitive science: how does the mind respond to different kinds of representation of the same information especially when learning, reasoning, and communicating. It uses philosophical, logical, linguistic, psychological, and educational methods to explore this topic, reporting theories, observations, and arguments developed during several years research. Though the focus is on fundamental cognitive theories of human capacities, the issues are closely related to intensely practical issues about the teaching and learning of reasoning and communication skills. Along the way it examines why the human mind has so evolved, the relationship between private language and public thought, and integrates cognitive and social accounts of communication.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In addressing the association between mental functioning and external representation, Seeing Reason should, I believe, be commended for its success not only in progressing a theoretical synthesis relating to the topic of reasoning and representation, but in simultaneously tackling head-on various complex issues relating to the learning of reasoning skills. It is rare to find contemporary analyses of human reasoning that attempt to cover both sides of the theory-practice divide, let alone that endeavour to build a bridge between them ... Seeing Reason is erudite (with an appropriate smattering of wit) and is a good example of some of the best published work in contemporary cognitive science. It is the kind of book that should serve to inspire new researchers embarking on the study of deductive reasoning. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 57A --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Psychology and philosophy at Oxford. PhD at Rockefeller University in New York. Taught at Liverpool University before moving to Edinburgh to the Center for Cognitive Science in 1983. Now Director of the Human Communication Research Centre.

ESRC Senior Research Fellow 1999-2002

Chariman-elect of Cognitive Science Society 2002-2003

Research interests are in the cognitive science of human reasoning and communication, especially thelearning of reasoning and communication skills. What is the relation between logical foundations and empirical psychology of human representation adn reasoning capacities? How can cognitive and social accounts of human reasoning and communication be integrated?

Product Details

• Hardcover: 350 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0198507739
• ISBN-13: 978-0198507734
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,847,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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