Arthur B. Markman (1998) Domain-independent Mediating States are Rare
. Psycoloquy: 9(56) Representation Mediation (3)
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Psycoloquy 9(56): Domain-independent Mediating States are Rare
DOMAIN-INDEPENDENT MEDIATING STATES ARE RARE
Reply to Bringsjord on Representation-Mediation
Arthur B. Markman
Department of Psychology
University of Texas
Austin, TX 78712
http://www.psy.utexas.edu/psy/FACULTY/Markman/index.html
Eric Dietrich
PACCS Program in Philosophy
Binghamton University
Binghamton, NY
http://www.binghamton.edu/philosophy/home/faculty/index.htm
markman@psy.utexas.edu
dietrich@binghamton.edu
Abstract
Bringsjord (1998) suggests that Markman & Dietrich (1998)
argued that there are no domain-independent abstract mediating
states in cognitive systems. Bringsjord presents a small study using
only logic experts, which he argues is a demonstration that there
are abstract mediating states. His interpretation of Markman &
Dietrich's claim is inaccurate. More important, his experiment
does not provide evidence for the existence of domain-independent
mediating states. Finally, Bringsjord suggests that an agent-based
AI might be a good domain for studying the interactions among types
of mediating states. This is an interesting proposal, worthy of
further investigation, and is quite consistent with the arguments
in our target article.
Keywords
compositionality, computation, connectionism, discrete
states, dynamic Systems, explanation, information, meaning,
mediating states, representation, rules, semantic Content symbols
References
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- Bringsjord, S. (1998) Domain-Independent Abstract Mediating States and AI. PSYCOLOQUY 9(53) ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/Psycoloquy/1998.volume.9/psyc.98.9.53.representation-mediation.2.bringsjord
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- Markman, A.B. & Dietrich, E. (1998) In Defense of Representation as Mediation. PSYCOLOQUY 9(48) ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/Psycoloquy/1998.volume.9/psyc.98.9.48.representation-mediation.1.markman
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