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