Abstract
Is there a notion of domain specificity which affords genuine insight in the context of the highly modular mind, i.e. a mind which has not only input modules, but also central ‘conceptual’ modules? Our answer to this question is no. The main argument is simple enough: we lay out some constraints that a theoretically useful notion of domain specificity, in the context of the highly modular mind, would need to meet. We then survey a host of accounts of what domain specificity is, based on the intuitive idea that a domain specific mechanism is restricted in the kind of information that it processes, and show that each fails at least one of those constraints.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
One might be tempted to cheat here by having a disjunctive notion—with one disjunct applying to input-output modules and the other applying to Central System ones. Arguably, this would run afoul of the requirement of providing genuine insight, by rendering the notion largely vacuous. Regardless, let us agree that disjunctive notions are not allowed.
A similar conclusion on completely different grounds has been put forward by Peter Carruthers (2006, p. 6).
Talk of “function” in the modularity literature is ambiguous. Sometimes, it aims to be in tune with the evolutionary biological sense of selected or proper “function” (Millikan 1984). In evolutionary biology, an organ’s proper or selected function is whatever it was naturally selected to do. “If an organ has been naturally differentially selected-for by virtue of something it does, we can say that the reason the organ is there is that it does that something.” (Wright 1973, p. 46). Other times, cognitive talk of “function” is much looser, meaning nothing but the mechanism’s typical effects (Cummins 1975). This is the sense in which FP and CP identify domain specificity and specialized function, and it is also the way Fodor uses the word “function” to individuate modules in (1983). Notice, however, that taking a mechanism to be domain-specific if it exhibits a proper biological function would not satisfy our constraints either. After all, evolution might still have selected an all purpose system like Fodor’s putative central system. It is an empirically open question whether or not it did, but either is conceptually possible. Fodor’s central system, if selected for, therefore, would have a proper function. But Fodor’s central module is the paradigmatic non-domain-specific mental mechanism. Thus, it is possible for a mechanism to have a specific proper function, yet not be domain specific. This shows that having a specific proper function would fail to exclude non-domain specific mechanisms like Fodor’s central processor. Therefore, to have a specific proper function cannot be what it is required for a mental mechanism to be domain specific either.
References
Atran, S. (1999). Itzaj Maya Folkbiological taxonomy. In D. Medin & S. Atran (Eds.), Folkbiology. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Atran, S., Medin, D., Lynch, E., Vapnarsky, V., Ucan, E., & Sousa, P. (2001). Folkbiology doesn’t come from folkpsychology. Evidence from Yukatek Maya in cross-cultural perspective. Journal of Cognition and Culture, 1(3), 3–42. doi:10.1163/156853701300063561.
Barrett, H. C. (2005). Enzymatic computation and cognitive modularity. Mind & Language, 20, 259–287. doi:10.1111/j.0268-1064.2005.00285.x.
Barrett, H. C., & Kurzban, R. (2006). Modularity in cognition: Framing the debate. Psychological Review, 113(3), 628–647. doi:10.1037/0033-295X.113.3.628.
Carey, S., & Spelke, E. (1994). Domain-specific knowledge and conceptual change. In L. A. Hirschfeld & S. A. Gelman (Eds.), Mapping the mind (pp. 169–200). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Carey, S., & Xu, F. (2001). Infant’s knowledge of objects: Beyond object files and object tracking. Cognition, 80, 179–213. doi:10.1016/S0010-0277(00)00154-2.
Carruthers, P. (2005). Distinctively human thinking: Modular precursors and components. In P. Carruthers, S. Laurence, & S. Stich (Eds.), The innate mind: Structure and content. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Carruthers, P. (2006). The case for massively modular models of mind. In R. Stainton (Ed.), Contemporary debates in cognitive science (pp. 3–21). Oxford: Blackwell.
Collins, J. (2005). On the input problem for massive modularity. Minds and Machines, 15(1), 1–22. doi:10.1007/s11023-004-1346-5.
Cosmides, L., & Tooby, J. (1992). Cognitive adaptations for social exchange. In J. Barkow, L. Comsides, & J. Tooby (Eds.), The adapted mind: Evolutionary psychology and the generation of culture (pp. 163–228). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Cummins, R. (1975). Functional analysis. The Journal of Philosophy, 72, 741–765. doi:10.2307/2024640.
Fodor, J. (1983). The modularity of mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Fodor, J. (2000). The mind doesn’t work that way. Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Hirschfeld, L., & Gelman, S. A. (Eds.). (1994). Mapping the mind: Domain specificity in cognition and culture. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Kanwisher, N., & Moscovitch, M. (2000). The cognitive neuroscience of face processing: An introduction. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 1/2(3), 1–13.
Keil, F. C. (1994). The birth and nurturance of concepts by domains: The origins of concepts of living things. In L. A. Hirschfeld & S. A. Gelman (Eds.), Mapping the mind (pp. 234–254). Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
Locke, J. (1975). An essay concerning human understanding. In P. Nidditch (Ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Millikan, R. G. (1984). Language, thought, and other biological categories. Cambridge MA: MIT.
Pinker, S. (1997). How the mind works? New York: Norton & Company.
Pinker, S. (2005). So how does the mind work? Mind & Language, 20, 1–24. doi:10.1111/j.0268-1064.2005.00274.x.
Roberts, M. J. (Ed.). (2007). Integrating the mind. Hove: Psychology Press.
Samuels, R. (2006). Is the mind massively modular? In R. Stainton (Ed.), Contemporary debates in cognitive science (pp. 37–56). Oxord: Blackwell.
Santos, L. R., Hauser, M. D., & Spelke, E. S. (2002). Domain-specific knowledge in human children and non-human primates: Artifact and food kinds. In M. Bekoff, C. Allen, & G. Burghardt (Eds.), The cognitive animal (pp. 205–216). Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Sperber, D. (1996). Explaining culture. Oxford: Blackwell.
Sperber, D. (2002). In defense of massive modularity. In E. Dupoux (Ed.), Language, brain and cognitive development: Essays in honor of Jacques Mehler (pp. 47–57). Cambridge, MA: MIT.
Sperber, D. (2005). Modularity and relevance: How can a massively modular mind be flexible and context sensitive? In P. Carruthers, S. Laurence, & S. Stich (Eds.), The innate mind. Structure and content (pp. 205–216). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wright, L. (1973). Functions. The Philosophical Review, 82(2), 139–168. doi:10.2307/2183766.
Acknowledgments
Earlier drafts of this paper were presented at the Instituto de Investigaciones Filosóficas in Mexico City; at the Second Workshop on Context and Content, hosted by the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba; and at the University of London’s Institute for Philosophy. We are grateful to all three audiences for very insightful suggestions. We would like to single out Laura Danón, Barry Smith, Virginia Vallian, and Jonny McIntosh for truly penetrating objections that led to significant improvements.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Barceló Aspeitia, A.A., Eraña, Á. & Stainton, R. The Contribution of Domain Specificity in the Highly Modular Mind. Minds & Machines 20, 19–27 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-010-9183-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11023-010-9183-1