Systematicity redux.

One of the main challenges that Jerry Fodor and Zenon Pylyshyn (Cognition 28:3–71, 1988) posed for any connectionist theory of cognitive architecture is to explain the systematicity of thought without implementing a Language of Thought (LOT) architecture. The systematicity challenge presents a dilem...

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Publicado en:Synthese Vol. 170; no. 2; pp. 251 - 275
Autor principal: McLaughlin, Brian
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Sep2009
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        au: McLaughlin, Brian
        affil: Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University, 26 Nicole Avenue New Brunswick 08901 USA
      su:
        Connectionism
        Cognitive ability
        Fodor, Jerry
        Pylyshyn, Zenon W.
        Linguistic analysis
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          Connectionism
          Cognitive ability
          Fodor, Jerry
          Pylyshyn, Zenon W.
          Linguistic analysis
      keyword:
        Cognitive architecture
        Implementation
        Language of thought
        Productivity
        Psychological laws
        Systematicity
        Thought abilities
      ab: One of the main challenges that Jerry Fodor and Zenon Pylyshyn (Cognition 28:3–71, 1988) posed for any connectionist theory of cognitive architecture is to explain the systematicity of thought without implementing a Language of Thought (LOT) architecture. The systematicity challenge presents a dilemma: if connectionism cannot explain the systematicity of thought, then it fails to offer an adequate theory of cognitive architecture; and if it explains the systematicity of thought by implementing a LOT architecture, then it fails to offer an alternative to the LOT hypothesis. Given that thought is systematic, connectionism can offer an adequate alternative to the LOT hypothesis only if it can meet the challenge. Although some critics tried to meet the challenge, others argued that it need not be met since thought is not in fact systematic; and some claimed not to even understand the claim that thought is systematic. I do not here examine attempts to answer the challenge. Instead, I defend the challenge itself by explicating the notion of systematicity in a way that I hope makes clear that thought is indeed systematic, and so that to offer an adequate alternative to the LOT hypothesis, connectionism must meet the challenge.
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    language: English
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