Response to Bechtel and Lloyd

Author: Uttal W.R.

Source: Brain and Mind, Volume 3, Number 2, August 2002 , pp. 261-273(13)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The field of cognitive imaging is exploding both in terms of the amount of our scientific resources dedicated to it and the associated publication rate. However, all of this effort is based on a critical question – Do cognitive modules exist? Both of the reviewers of my book (Uttal, 2001) and I agree that this question has not yet been satisfactorily answered and, depending on the ultimate answer, the cognitive imaging approach as well as some other parts of the quest for mechanistic models of mind might not be successful. Our views of how our science should respond to this serious problem, however, are quite different. Both Professor Bechtel and Lloyd argue for an optimistic attack on the problem of the localization of cognitive processes in the brain based on the history of other sciences. I argue that a realistic appreciation of the limits of this approach should temper the enthusiasm for what ultimately will go the way of other attempts to unravel the mind-brain problem.

Keywords: assumptions; cognition; modularity; MRI

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Department of Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University, Tempe AZ 85287-5906, USA

Publication date: 2002-08-01