Christopher D. Green (1998) Problems With the Implementation Argument:
. Psycoloquy: 9(08) Connectionist Explanation (5)
Versions: ASCII formatted
Psycoloquy 9(08): Problems With the Implementation Argument:
PROBLEMS WITH THE IMPLEMENTATION ARGUMENT:
Reply to O'Brien on Connectionist-Explanation
Christopher D. Green
Department of Psychology
York University
Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3
Canada
http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/christo
christo@yorku.ca
Abstract
O'Brien (1998) and I (Green 1998) agree on many issues,
but his reliance on Clark's (1990, 1993) justification for
connectionist research in terms of explanatory inversion raises as
many problems as it solves. Connectionism seems to generate
ontological problems that do not impede symbolic cognitive
science.
Keywords
artificial intelligence, cognition, computer modelling,
connectionism, epistemology, explanation, methodology, neural nets,
philosophy of science, theory.
References
- Clark, A. (1990) Connectionism, competence, and explanation. In: The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence, ed. Boden, M. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Clark, A. (1993) Associative engines: Connectionism, concepts, and representational change. MIT Press.
- Kim, J. (1993). _Supervenience and mind_. Cambridge University Press.
- Fodor, J. A. & Pylyshyn, Z. W. (1988) Connectionism and cognitive architecture: A critical analysis. Cognition 28: 3-71.
- Green, C. D. (1994) Fighting the good fight: A review of Andy Clark's Associative engines: Connectionism, concepts, and representational change. Canadian Artificial Intelligence, No. 35, 33-36. http://www.yorku.ca/faculty/academic/christo/papers/clarkrev.htm
- Green, C. D. (1998) Are Connectionist Models Theories of Cognition? PSYCOLOQUY 9(4). ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/Psycoloquy/1998.volume.9/ psyc.98.9.04.connectionist-explanation.1.green.
- Kuhn, T. S. (1957). The Copernican revolution: Planetary astronomy in the development of Western thought. Harvard University Press.
- O'Brien, G. J. (1998) The role of implementation in connectionist explanation. PSYCOLOQUY 9(6). ftp://ftp.princeton.edu/pub/harnad/Psycoloquy/1998.volume.9/ psyc.98.9.06.connectionist-explanation.3.obrien.
- Searle, J. R. (1980) Minds, brains and programs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 3: 417-424.