Computationalism + Identity Theory

What is the Historical Context of Computationalism?

Emerged from the developments in Functionalism, the Representional Theory of Theory, and Turing’s work on Computation

Addition to Historical Context, what was the shift in Cogsci to computationalism?

Shift from what the mind is made of toward what the mind does, scientists began to propose cognition could be understood as computation

Addition Historical Context 2, If the brain functions as an information-processing system, then thinking…?

May consist of manipulating internal representations according to computational rules

What’s the definition of Computationalism?

Theory that cognition is fundamentally a form of computation

Addition to definition, according to the theory, how does the mind work?

The mind computes according to formal rules, much like a computer process, mainly argues that the brain perform computations regardless of the physical material implementing them

What is Computationalism’s relevance to Cogsci?

Became one of the most influential foundations of cogsci since it provided a scientific explanation of thinking, reasoning, problem-solving.

Addition to relevance, what’d Computationalism help connect?

Connected philosophy, neuroscience, psychology, and computer science by suggesting that cognition could be studied as information-processing

What’s an example of Computationalism?

GOFAI, where intelligence is modelled through symbolic representations and explicit logical rules

How does GOFAI’s chess program demosntrate Computationalism?

Represented board rules internally and computes legal moves according to formal rules rather than through intuition or understanding

What’s another example of Computationalism?

Language processing—sentences are treated as symbolic structures manipulated according to grammatical rules

What’s the discussion on Computationalism?

Explains cognition as syntactic manipulation of representations, allowed for modelling of reasoning and problem-solving computationally

What are two debates that argues against Computationalism?

Searle’s Chinese Room and embodied cognition where cognition also depends on the body’s interactions with the environment

What’s the Historical Context of Identity Theory?

Emerged as a response to Descarte’s Dualism, which argued mind and body are fundamentally different substances

Addition to historical context, while dualism argued and explained the differences between mental and physical phenomena, what’d it struggle with?

Struggled to explain how an immaterial mind could interact with a physical body

Addition to historical context 2, as neuroscience developed, many philosophers sought a more scientifically grounded account of the mind, so?

Identity theory proposed mental states are not separate from the brain but are identical to the physical brain states

What’s the definition of identity theory?

Or brain state theory, argues that every type of mental state is identical to a corresponding type of brain state

Addition to definition, how are mental states seen in identity theory?

Mental states are not caused by the brain nor correlated with brain activity, they are the same physical activity described in different ways

Addition to definition, what’d identity theorists reject the idea of?

Pain is caused by C-Fiber, instead pain is C-Fiber—similar to water and H2O

What was identity theory’s relevance to cogsci?

Became significant because it fully integrated the study of the mind into natural sciences

Addition to relevance, rather than treating mental phenomena as mysterious or nonphysical, what’d identity theory suggest?

Suggested that development in neuroscience could explain cognition by studying the brain itself, representing one of the first major attempts to naturalize the mind

What’s an example of identity theory?

Viewing pain and C-Fiber activation as the same event, arguing these are not two different events but the same event described using different neuroscientific vocabulary

How is the example of identity justified by theoriests?

The way lighting is identical to thunder, different descriptions of the same event. Argued that mental states may eventually be identified with particular brain processes

Why was there discussion on why identity theory was so attractive?

It offered a scientifically new explanation of the mind

What was the major challenge for identity theory?

Multiple realizability—argue that humans/animals can experience pain despite having different physical structures then pain cannot be identical to one specific physical structure

After multiple realizability, what did identity theory lead to afterwards?

Functionalism-shifted attention from the physical material realizing mental states to the functional roles they play