Practical Reasoning in a Modular Mind

Author: Carruthers P.1

Source: Mind & Language, Volume 19, Number 3, June 2004 , pp. 259-278(20)

Publisher: Blackwell Publishing

Abstract:

:

This paper starts from an assumption defended in the author's previous work. This is that distinctively-human flexible and creative theoretical thinking can be explained in terms of the interactions of a variety of modular systems, with the addition of just a few a-modular components and dispositions. On the basis of that assumption it is argued that distinctively human practical reasoning, too, can be understood in modular terms. The upshot is that there is nothing in the human psyche that requires any significant retreat from a thesis of massively modular mental organization.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2004.00258.x

Affiliations: 1: Department of Philosophy, University of Maryland, USA

Links for this article