Can Connectionists Explain Systematicity?

Author: Matthews, Robert J.

Source: Mind & Language, Volume 12, Number 2, June 1997 , pp. 154-177(24)

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Abstract:

Classicists and connectionists alike claim to be able to explain systematicity. The proposed classicist explanation, I argue, is little more than a promissory note, one that classicists have no idea how to redeem. Smolensky’s (1995) proposed connectionist explanation fares little better: it is not vulnerable to recent classicist objections, but it nonetheless fails, particularly if one requires, as some classicists do, that explanations of systematicity take the form of a ‘functional analysis’. Nonetheless, there are, I argue, reasons for cautious optimism about the prospects of a connectionist explanation.

Document Type: Research Article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1468-0017.00041

Affiliations: Department of Philosophy, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ 08903, USA

Publication date: June 1, 1997