Speaking Minds (ebook)

Argumento de Speaking Minds (ebook)

Few developments in the intellectual life of the past quarter-century have provoked more controversy than the attempt to engineer human-like intelligence by artificial means. Born of computer science, this effort has sparked a continuing debate among the psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers,and linguists who have pioneered--and criticized--artificial intelligence. Are there general principles, as some computer scientists had originally hoped, that would fully describe the activity of both animal and machine minds, just as aerodynamics accounts for the flight of birds and airplanes? In the twenty substantial interviews published here, leading researchers address this and other vexing questions in the field of cognitive science.

The interviewees include Patricia Smith Churchland (Take It Apart and See How It Runs), Paul M. Churchland (Neural Networks and Commonsense), Aaron V. Cicourel (Cognition and Cultural Belief), Daniel C. Dennett (In Defense of AI), Hubert L. Dreyfus (Cognitivism Abandoned), Jerry A. Fodor (The Folly of Simulation), John Haugeland (Farewell to GOFAI?), George Lakoff (Embodied Minds and Meanings), James L. McClelland (Toward a Pragmatic Connectionism), Allen Newell (The Serial Imperative), Stephen E. Palmer (Gestalt Psychology Redux), Hilary Putnam (Against the New Associationism), David E. Rumelhart (From Searching to Seeing), John R. Searle (Ontology Is the Question), Terrence J. Sejnowski (The Hardware Really Matters), Herbert A. Simon (Technology Is Not the Problem), Joseph Weizenbaum (The Myth of the Last Metaphor), Robert Wilensky (Why Play the Philosophy Game?), Terry A.Winograd (Computers and Social Values), and Lotfi A. Zadeh (The Albatross of Classical Logic). Speaking Minds can complement more traditional textbooks but can also stand alone as an introduction to the field.

Originally published in 1995.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

"The authors' goal was not simply to produce another text that serves to introduce cognitive science but rather to give readers a feeling of the excitement of the field by helping them understand the personal commitment of these researchers and their connections to the work and thoughts of others in the field. They were clearly successful."--Choice

"If you're interested in minds, brains, and machines, this book has something for you, regardless of your opinions and expertise.... The candor and informality make the interviews great fun to read, but the speakers are at heart dead serious.... An informative and useful introduction to current controversies in cognitive science."--Steven Pinker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

"These interviews provide fascinating glimpses into the conceptual schemes of some of the leading thinkers in cognitive science and philosophy of mind. The presentation of so many diverse viewpoints is both informative and entertaining."--Paul Thagard, University of Waterloo

"I really like this book. The editors have done a first-class job--the canonical insiders take on Artificial Intelligence and cognitive science. As they suggest, the book is best read as a kind of hypertext, slipping between the various responses to the core questions used to organize the interviews. The result is an invaluable teaching resource and a very good read."--Andy Clark, Washington University

"Baumgartner and Payr have compiled a fascinating collection of the stories that cognitive scientists tell to motivate themselves. The difficulties they encounter get as much attention as their accomplishments in these frank and revealing dialogues. It is cognitive science with a human face."--George A. Miller, Princeton University0Introduction 3 Take It Apart and See How It Runs 21 Neural Networks and Commonsense 33 Cognition and Cultural Belief 47 In Defense of AI 59 Cognitivism Abandoned 71 The Folly of Simulation 85 Farewell to GOFAI? 101 Embodied Minds and Meanings 115 Toward a Pragmatic Connectionism 131 The Serial Imperative 145 Gestalt Psychology Redux 157 Against the New Associationism 177 From Searching to Seeing 189 Ontology Is the Question 203 The Hardware Really Matters 215 Technology Is Not the Problem 231 The Myth of the Last Metaphor 249 Why Play the Philosophy Game? 265 Computers and Social Values 283 The Albatross of Classical Logic 301 Glossary 313 Bibliography 325 Index 337