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Order, Order Everywhere, and Only an Agent to Think: The Cognitive Compulsion to Infer Intentional Agents
Author(s) -
Keil Frank C.,
Newman George E.
Publication year - 2015
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/mila.12074
Subject(s) - argument (complex analysis) , order (exchange) , inference , cognition , psychology , cognitive psychology , cognitive science , epistemology , philosophy , neuroscience , finance , economics , biochemistry , chemistry
Abstract Several studies demonstrate that an intuitive link between agents and order emerges within the first year of life. This appreciation seems importantly related to similar forms of inference, such as the Argument from Design. We suggest, however, that infants and young children may be more accurate in their tendencies to infer agents from order than older children and adults, who often infer intentional agents when there are none. Thus, the earliest inferences about intentional agents based on order may be quite accurate and resistant to non‐intentional foils, but with further cognitive development and overgeneralization, links between order and agents may emerge that, with the right socio‐cultural prompts, can lead to the Argument from Design.