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Practical Reasoning in a Modular Mind
Author(s) -
Carruthers Peter
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
mind and language
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.905
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1468-0017
pISSN - 0268-1064
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0017.2004.00258.x
Subject(s) - modular design , psyche , variety (cybernetics) , nothing , cognitive science , epistemology , computer science , philosophy of mind , psychology , philosophy , artificial intelligence , metaphysics , operating system
This paper starts from an assumption defended in the author's previous work. This is that distinctively‐human flexible and creative theoretical thinking can be explained in terms of the interactions of a variety of modular systems, with the addition of just a few a‐modular components and dispositions. On the basis of that assumption it is argued that distinctively human practical reasoning, too, can be understood in modular terms. The upshot is that there is nothing in the human psyche that requires any significant retreat from a thesis of massively modular mental organization.