Deciding, Planning, and Practical Reasoning: Elements towards a Cognitive Architecture

Author: Perez-Miranda L.A.

Source: Argumentation, Volume 11, Number 4, November 1997 , pp. 435-461(27)

Publisher: Springer

Buy & download fulltext article:

Price: $47.00 plus tax (Refund Policy)

Abstract:

I intend to show some of the limits of the decision-theoretic model in connection with the analysis of cognitive agency. Although the concept of maximum expected utility can be helpful for explaining the decision-making process, it is certainly not the primary motor that moves agents to action. Moreover, it has been noticed elsewhere that this model is inadequate to the analysis of single cases of practical reasoning. A theory is proposed that introduces a plan-structure as a basic idea. In order to know its very conceptual scope, we need to accommodate that theory to a cognitive architecture whereby the rational and autonomous agent makes choices and deliberates between courses of action to achieve specific goals that are of its interest. The paper endeavours also to clarify the relationship between the different modules that should constitute the architecture of an agent to accomplish the requisites of efficiency and autonomy in a changeable and dynamic world.

Keywords: Cognitive science; reasoning; plan; goal; decision-making; architecture; agency; rationality; propositional aptitudes

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: University of Basque Country, Institute for Logic, Cognition, Language and Information, 220 20080 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

Publication date: 1997-11-01