Representation Reconsidered

Description:
Cognitive representation is the single most important explanatory notion in the sciences of the mind and has served as the cornerstone for the so-called 'cognitive revolution'. This book, originally published in 2007, critically examines the ways in which philosophers and cognitive scientists appeal to representations in their theories, and argues that there is considerable confusion about the nature of representational states. This has led to an excessive over-application of the notion - especially in many of the fresher theories in computational neuroscience. Representation Reconsidered shows how psychological research is actually moving in a non-representational direction, revealing a radical, though largely unnoticed, shift in our basic understanding of how the mind works.

Review:
'A must read for those interested in the role of representation in cognitive science, and a nice review of the literature along the way that will be appreciated by both students and scholars.' Professor Robert Cummins, Department of Philosophy, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Table of Contents:
List of figures; Preface; 1. Demands on a representational theory; 2. Representation in classical computational theories: the standard interpretation and its problems; 3. Two notions of representation in the classical computational framework; 4. The receptor notion and its problems; 5. Tacit representation and its problems; 6. Where is the representational paradigm headed?; References; Index.