Speaking Minds: Interviews with Twenty Eminent Cognitive Scientists

Published by Princeton University Press 1995

Speaking Minds

Interviews with Twenty Eminent Cognitive Scientists

Edited by: Peter Baumgartner and Sabine Payr

Volume 292 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400863969

Overview
Contents

About this book

Few developments in the intellectual life of the past quarter-century have provoked more controversy than the attempt to engineer human-like intelligence by artificial means. Born of computer science, this effort has sparked a continuing debate among the psychologists, neuroscientists, philosophers,and linguists who have pioneered--and criticized--artificial intelligence. Are there general principles, as some computer scientists had originally hoped, that would fully describe the activity of both animal and machine minds, just as aerodynamics accounts for the flight of birds and airplanes? In the twenty substantial interviews published here, leading researchers address this and other vexing questions in the field of cognitive science.

The interviewees include Patricia Smith Churchland (Take It Apart and See How It Runs), Paul M. Churchland (Neural Networks and Commonsense), Aaron V. Cicourel (Cognition and Cultural Belief), Daniel C. Dennett (In Defense of AI), Hubert L. Dreyfus (Cognitivism Abandoned), Jerry A. Fodor (The Folly of Simulation), John Haugeland (Farewell to GOFAI?), George Lakoff (Embodied Minds and Meanings), James L. McClelland (Toward a Pragmatic Connectionism), Allen Newell (The Serial Imperative), Stephen E. Palmer (Gestalt Psychology Redux), Hilary Putnam (Against the New Associationism), David E. Rumelhart (From Searching to Seeing), John R. Searle (Ontology Is the Question), Terrence J. Sejnowski (The Hardware Really Matters), Herbert A. Simon (Technology Is Not the Problem), Joseph Weizenbaum (The Myth of the Last Metaphor), Robert Wilensky (Why Play the Philosophy Game?), Terry A.Winograd (Computers and Social Values), and Lotfi A. Zadeh (The Albatross of Classical Logic). Speaking Minds can complement more traditional textbooks but can also stand alone as an introduction to the field.

Originally published in 1995.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Reviews

"Baumgartner and Payr have compiled a fascinating collection of the stories that cognitive scientists tell to motivate themselves. The difficulties they encounter get as much attention as their accomplishments in these frank and revealing dialogues. It is cognitive science with a human face."—George A. Miller, Princeton University

An invaluable accompaniment to a standard text and an excellent educated layman's introduction to some of the more computational issues in the science of the mind.---Richard Cooper, The Times Higher Education Supplement

"These interviews provide fascinating glimpses into the conceptual schemes of some of the leading thinkers in cognitive science and philosophy of mind. The presentation of so many diverse viewpoints is both informative and entertaining."—Paul Thagard, University of Waterloo

The authors' goal was not simply to produce another text that serves to introduce cognitive science but rather to give readers a feeling of the excitement of the field by helping them understand the personal commitment of these researchers and their connections to the work and thoughts of others in the field. They were clearly successful.

Enough food for thought to satisfy the most hungry of intellects.

"I really like this book. The editors have done a first-class job—the canonical insiders take on Artificial Intelligence and cognitive science. As they suggest, the book is best read as a kind of hypertext, slipping between the various responses to the core questions used to organize the interviews. The result is an invaluable teaching resource and a very good read."—Andy Clark, Washington University

The editors, Peter Baumgartner and Sabine Payr, have done a brilliant job. Enough food for thought to satisfy the most hungry of intellects.

These edited interviews of prominent workers in the cognitive science arena reveal lively disagreement on basic concepts, particularly between the two dominant camps. . . . A multiperspective overview of the evolution and objective of this relatively new discipline.

"If you're interested in minds, brains, and machines, this book has something for you, regardless of your opinions and expertise.... The candor and informality make the interviews great fun to read, but the speakers are at heart dead serious.... An informative and useful introduction to current controversies in cognitive science."—Steven Pinker, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

The frank and friendly style of the interviews makes the book both an invaluable accompaniment to a standard text and an excellent educated layman's introduction to some of the more computational issues in the science of the mind.---Richard Cooper, The Times Higher Education Supplement

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
CONTENTS Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Take It Apart and See How It Runs Patricia Smith Churchland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	21
Neural Networks and Commonsense Paulm Churchland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Cognition and Cultural Belief Aaron V. Cicourel Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	47
In Defense of AI Daniel C. Dennett Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	59
Cognitivism Abandoned Hubert L. Dreyfus Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
The Folly of Simulation Jerry A. Fodor Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	85
Farewell to GOFAI? John Haugeland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	101
Embodied Minds and Meanings George Lakoff Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115
Toward a Pragmatic Connectionism James L. Mcclelland Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	131
The Serial Imperative Allen Newell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
Gestalt Psychology Redux Stephen E. Palmer Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	157
Against the New Associationism Hilary Putnam Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	177
From Searching to Seeing David E. Rumelhart Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	189
Ontology Is the Question John R. Searle Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	203
The Hardware Really Matters Terrencej Sejnowski Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	215
HERBERT A SIMON Technology Is Not the Problem Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	231
The Myth of the Last Metaphor Joseph Weizenbaum Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	249
Why Play the Philosophy Game? Robert Wilensky Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	265
Computers and Social Values Terry A. Winograd Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	283
The Albatross of Classical Logic Lotfi A. Zadeh Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	301
GLOSSARY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	313
BIBLIOGRAPHY Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	325
INDEX Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	337

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