Grades of Explanation in Cognitive Science

Author: Montgomery R.

Source: Synthese, Volume 114, Number 3, March 1998 , pp. 463-495(33)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

I sketch an explanatory framework that fits a variety of contemporary research programs in cognitive science. I then investigate the scope and the implications of this framework. The framework emphasizes (a) the explanatory role played by the semantic content of cognitive representations, and (b) the important ``mechanistic'', non-intentional dimension of cognitive explanations. I show how both of these features are present simultaneously in certain varieties of cognitive explanation. I also consider the explanatory role played by grounded representational content, that is, content evaluated by appeal to its truth, falsity, accuracy, inaccuracy and other relational properties.

Language: English

Document Type: Regular paper

Affiliations: 1: Department of Philosophy, West Virginia University, P.O. Box 6312, Morgantown, WV 26505, U.S.A. E-mail: rmontgom@wvu.edu

Publication date: 1998-03-01