Overview
- Presents a novel defense of non-representationalism
- Synthesizes mechanistic explanation with non-representationalism
- Furthers the debate between representationalism and non-representationalism
Part of the book series: Studies in Brain and Mind (SIBM, volume 22)
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About this book
In this book, Matej Kohar demonstrates how the new mechanistic account of explanation can be used to support a non-representationalist view of explanations in cognitive neuroscience, and therefore can bring new conceptual tools to the non-representationalist arsenal. Kohar focuses on the explanatory relevance of representational content in constitutive mechanistic explanations typical in cognitive neuroscience. The work significantly contributes to two areas of literature: 1) the debate between representationalism and non-representationalism, and 2) the literature on mechanistic explanation.
Kohar begins with an introduction to the mechanistic theory of explanation, focusing on the analysis of mechanistic constitution as the basis of explanatory relevance in constitutive mechanistic explanation. He argues that any viable analysis of representational contents implies that content is not constitutively relevant to cognitive phenomena. The author also addresses objections against his argument and concludes with an examination of the consequences of his account for both traditional cognitive neuroscience and non-representationalist alternatives. This book is of interest to readers in philosophy of mind, cognitive science and neuroscience.Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
- Mechanistic Explanation
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Anti-representationalism in Cognitive Neuroscience
- Explanatory Relevance of Representational Contents
- Philosophy of Cognitive Neuroscience
- Constitutive Mechanistic Explanation
- New Mechanistic Theory of Explanation
- Mechanistic explanatory texts
- Indicator contents
- Teleosemantics
- dual-explananda defence
- Pragmatic Necessity defence
Table of contents (10 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Matej Kohar is Research Assistant at the Technical University in Berlin, Germany. He earned a BA in Philosophy from the University of Exeter, an MSc in Mind, Language and Embodied Cognition from The University of Edinburgh and has defended a doctoral thesis in Philosophy at the Ruhr-University Bochum in October 2020.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Neural Machines: A Defense of Non-Representationalism in Cognitive Neuroscience
Authors: Matej Kohár
Series Title: Studies in Brain and Mind
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-26746-8
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-26745-1Published: 10 March 2023
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-26748-2Published: 10 March 2024
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-26746-8Published: 09 March 2023
Series ISSN: 1573-4536
Series E-ISSN: 2468-399X
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 198
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Science, Neurosciences