Concepts as plug and play devices
Research on concepts has focused on categorization. Categorization starts with a stimulus. Equally important are episodes that start with a thought. We engage in thinking to draw out new consequences from stored information, or to work out how to act. Each of the concepts out of which a thought...
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Sprache: | English |
| Veröffentlicht: |
Royal Society
2022
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| _version_ | 1826309182100340736 |
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| author | Shea, N |
| author_facet | Shea, N |
| author_sort | Shea, N |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Research on concepts has focused on categorization. Categorization starts with a stimulus.
Equally important are episodes that start with a thought. We engage in thinking to draw out
new consequences from stored information, or to work out how to act. Each of the concepts
out of which a thought is constructed provides access to a large body of stored information.
Access is not always just a matter of retrieving a stored belief (semantic memory). Often it
depends on running a simulation. Simulation allows conceptual thought to draw on
information in special‐purpose systems, information stored in special‐purpose computational
dispositions and special‐purpose representational structures.
While the utility of simulation, prospection or imagination is widely appreciated, the role of
concepts in the process is not well understood. This paper turns to cognitive and
computational neuroscience for a model of how simulations enable thinkers to reach novel
conclusions. Carried over to conceptual thought, the model suggests that concepts are ‘plug
& play’ devices. The distinctive power of thought‐driven simulations derives from the ability
of concepts to plug into two kinds of structure at once: the combinatorial structure of a
thought at one end, and special‐purpose structural representations at the other. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:31:53Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:697d0bdf-89a3-4e50-9337-ee25104684ac |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:31:53Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | Royal Society |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:697d0bdf-89a3-4e50-9337-ee25104684ac2023-01-25T11:36:32ZConcepts as plug and play devicesJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:697d0bdf-89a3-4e50-9337-ee25104684acEnglishSymplectic ElementsRoyal Society2022Shea, NResearch on concepts has focused on categorization. Categorization starts with a stimulus. Equally important are episodes that start with a thought. We engage in thinking to draw out new consequences from stored information, or to work out how to act. Each of the concepts out of which a thought is constructed provides access to a large body of stored information. Access is not always just a matter of retrieving a stored belief (semantic memory). Often it depends on running a simulation. Simulation allows conceptual thought to draw on information in special‐purpose systems, information stored in special‐purpose computational dispositions and special‐purpose representational structures. While the utility of simulation, prospection or imagination is widely appreciated, the role of concepts in the process is not well understood. This paper turns to cognitive and computational neuroscience for a model of how simulations enable thinkers to reach novel conclusions. Carried over to conceptual thought, the model suggests that concepts are ‘plug & play’ devices. The distinctive power of thought‐driven simulations derives from the ability of concepts to plug into two kinds of structure at once: the combinatorial structure of a thought at one end, and special‐purpose structural representations at the other. |
| spellingShingle | Shea, N Concepts as plug and play devices |
| title | Concepts as plug and play devices |
| title_full | Concepts as plug and play devices |
| title_fullStr | Concepts as plug and play devices |
| title_full_unstemmed | Concepts as plug and play devices |
| title_short | Concepts as plug and play devices |
| title_sort | concepts as plug and play devices |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT shean conceptsasplugandplaydevices |