Arthur B. Markman (1998) Mediating States, Information and Representation
. Psycoloquy: 9(66) Representation Mediation (10)
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Psycoloquy 9(66): Mediating States, Information and Representation
MEDIATING STATES, INFORMATION AND REPRESENTATION
Reply to Clapin 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
Clapin (1998) argues that our definition of mediating
states will not work. His argument focuses on the idea that not all
representational states carry information about their content. We
disagree. Whatever the final theory of representational content
turns out to be, information will have to play some role. That is
the minimal condition required for a truth-functional semantics. In
addition to defending mediating states, we discuss other issues
raised in Clapin's interesting commentary.
Keywords
compositionality, computation, connectionism, discrete
states, dynamic Systems, explanation, information, meaning,
mediating states, representation, rules, semantic Content symbols
References
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