Cognitive Ontology and the Search for Neural Mechanisms: Three Foundational Problems

The central task of cognitive neuroscience to map cognitive capacities to neural mechanisms faces three interlocking conceptual problems that together frame the problem of cognitive ontology. First, they must establish which tasks elicit which cognitive capacities, and specifically when different tasks elicits the same capacity. To address this operationalization problem, scientists often assess whether the tasks engage the same neural mechanisms. But to determine whether mechanisms are of the same or different kinds, we need to solve the abstraction problem by determining which mechanistic differences are and are not relevant, and also the boundary problem by distinguishing the mechanism from its background conditions. Solving these problems, in turn, requires understanding how cognitive capacities are elicited in tasks. These three problems, which have been noted and discussed elsewhere in the literature, together form a ‘cycle of kinds’ that frames the central problem-space of cognitive ontology. We describe this cycle to clarify the intellectual challenges facing the cognitive ontologist and to reveal the kind of iterative process by which ontological revision in cognitive neuroscience is likely to unfold

Verifying context-dependent reduction relations for knowledge specifications

Knowledge can be specified at different levels of conceptualisation or abstraction. In this paper, lessons learned on the philosophical foundations of cognitive science are discussed, with a focus on how the relationships of cognitive theories with specific underlying (physical/biological) makeups can be dealt with. It is discussed how these results can be applied to relate different types of knowledge specifications. More specifically, it is shown how different knowledge specifications can be related by means of reduction relations, similar to how specifications of cognitive theories can be related to specifications within physical or biological contexts. By the example of a specific reduction approach, it is shown how the process of reduction can be automated, including mapping of specifications of different types and checking the fulfilment of reduction conditions

Verifying Context-dependent Reduction Relations for Knowledge Specifications

Abstract. Knowledge can be specified at different levels of conceptualisation or abstraction. In this paper, lessons learned on the philosophical foundations of cognitive science are discussed, with a focus on how the relationships of cognitive theories with specific underlying (physical/biological) makeups can be dealt with. It is discussed how these results can be applied to relate different types of knowledge specifications. More specifically, it is shown how different knowledge specifications can be related by means of reduction relations, similar to how specifications of cognitive theories can be related to specifications within physical or biological contexts. By the example of a specific reduction approach, it is shown how the process of reduction can be automated, including mapping of specifications of different types and checking the fulfilment of reduction conditions

The Function Debate in Philosophy

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