Notes for an up-to-date assessment of the computational approach to mind

The paper proposes an up-to-date assessment of the computational approach to mind, detailing conceptual and critical aspects. The assessment is guided by three theses α) The human mind is a computational system; β) The human mind can be described as a computational system; γ) Computational systems n...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Meurer, César Fernando
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2024
Country:Brasil
Institution:Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS)
Repository:Veritas (Porto Alegre. Online)
Language:Portuguese
OAI Identifier:oai:ojs.revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br:article/44571
Online Access:https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/veritas/article/view/44571
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Mental representations
Connectionism
Structural computationalism
Mechanicism
Representações mentais
Conexionismo
Computacionalismo estrutural
Mecanicismo
representaciones mentales
conexionismo
computacionalismo estructural
mecanicismo
Description
Summary:The paper proposes an up-to-date assessment of the computational approach to mind, detailing conceptual and critical aspects. The assessment is guided by three theses α) The human mind is a computational system; β) The human mind can be described as a computational system; γ) Computational systems need representational content, from which it is shown that classical computationalism is articulated in terms of α∧γ and that contemporary strands are best understood in terms of α∧~γ or β∧~γ. Finally, after analyzing a series of objections, we argue that 21st century computationalism is a philosophically relevant research program and that the critics of the computational approach to mind incur an anachronism when they merely criticize classical strands.