41,585 research outputs found
'Obsessed with goals': functions and mechanisms of teleological interpretation of actions in humans
Humans show a strong and early inclination to interpret observed behaviours of others as goal-directed actions. We identify two main epistemic functions that this âteleological obsessionâ serves: on-line prediction and social learning. We show how teleological action interpretations can serve these functions by drawing on two kinds of inference (âaction-to-goalâ or âgoal-to-actionâ), and argue that both types of teleological inference constitute inverse problems that can only be solved by further assumptions. We pinpoint the assumptions that the three currently proposed mechanisms of goal attribution (action-effect associations, simulation procedures, and teleological reasoning) imply, and contrast them with the functions they are supposed to fulfil. We argue that while action-effect associations and simulation procedures are generally well suited to serve on-line action monitoring and prediction, social learning of new means actions and artefact functions requires the inferential productivity of teleological reasoning
A more general treatment of the philosophy of physics and the existence of universes
Natural philosophy necessarily combines the process of scientific observation
with an abstract (and usually symbolic) framework, which provides a logical
structure to the development of a scientific theory. The metaphysical
underpinning of science includes statements about the process of science
itself, and the nature of both the philosophical and material objects involved
in a scientific investigation. By developing a formalism for an abstract
mathematical description of inherently non-mathematical, physical objects, an
attempt is made to clarify the mechanisms and implications of the philosophical
tool of Ansatz. Outcomes of the analysis include a possible explanation for the
philosophical issue of the 'unreasonable effectiveness' of mathematics as
raised by Wigner, and an investigation into formal definitions of the terms:
principles, evidence, existence and universes that are consistent with the
conventions used in physics. It is found that the formalism places restrictions
on the mathematical properties of objects that represent the tools and terms
mentioned above. This allows one to make testable predictions regarding physics
itself (where the nature of the tools of investigation is now entirely
abstract) just as scientific theories make predictions about the universe at
hand. That is, the mathematical structure of objects defined within the new
formalism has philosophical consequences (via logical arguments) that lead to
profound insights into the nature of the universe, which may serve to guide the
course of future investigations in science and philosophy, and precipitate
inspiring new avenues of research
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Understanding analogical reasoning : viewpoints from psychology and related disciplines
Analogy and metaphor have a long history of study in linguistics, education, philosophy and psychology. Consensus over what analogy is or how analogy functions in language and thought, however, has been elusive. This paper, the first in a two part series, examines these various research traditions, attempting to bring out major lines of agreement over the role of analogy in individual human experience. As well as being a general literature review which may be helpful for newcomers to the study of analogy, this paper attempts to extract from these literatures existing theories, models and concepts which may be interesting or useful for computational studies of analogical reasoning
Levels of inquiry: Hierarchies of pedagogical practices and inquiry processes
Provides pedagogical insight concerning the skill of inquiry The resource being annotated is: http://www.dlese.org/dds/catalog_COSEE-1808.htm
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