Why we view the brain as a computer

Author: Shagrir, Oron

Source: Synthese, Volume 153, Number 3, December 2006 , pp. 393-416(24)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The view that the brain is a sort of computer has functioned as a theoretical guideline both in cognitive science and, more recently, in neuroscience. But since we can view every physical system as a computer, it has been less than clear what this view amounts to. By considering in some detail a seminal study in computational neuroscience, I first suggest that neuroscientists invoke the computational outlook to explain regularities that are formulated in terms of the information content of electrical signals. I then indicate why computational theories have explanatory force with respect to these regularities:in a nutshell, they underscore correspondence relations between formal/mathematical properties of the electrical signals and formal/mathematical properties of the represented objects. I finally link my proposal to the philosophical thesis that content plays an essential role in computational taxonomy.

Keywords: Computation; Content; Information; Explanation

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11229-006-9099-8

Affiliations: 1: Email: shagrir@cc.huji.ac.il

Publication date: 2006-12-01