Browsing by Subject "Cognitive Science"

Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
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    The Nature of Human Truths: The Pragmatism of FCS Schiller and Cognitive Science
    (2024-01) Tebbitt, Brian
    Over the past several decades, Cognitive Science has been experiencing a “pragmatic turn” as a result of philosophers within the field examining the literature of classical Pragmatism. One outgrowth of the current “turn” has been the development of various enactivist models of cognition and perception. In his 1990 book, The Fragmentation of Reason, philosopher and cognitive scientist Stephen Stich promotes the adoption of what he calls an “epistemic pragmatism” and arrives at the startling conclusion that truth and true beliefs have no value whatsoever, either intrinsic or instrumental. I understand Stich’s conclusion about truth to be motivated by what I refer to as a “predicament” (i.e. that traditional analytic approaches to evaluating beliefs are limited and idiosyncratic, their deployment ultimately resting on subjective intuitions) and an apparent “dilemma” (i.e. the perception that there is an essential and unavoidable bifurcation between truth and practical success). While I agree with the majority of Stich’s assessment of traditional analytic methods of cognitive evaluation, I take exception with his conclusion that truth and true beliefs have no value. Furthermore, I consider his “dilemma” to be false, or at least only applicable in a case where one accepts certain analytic notions of truth. Refuting Stich’s conclusion regarding the value of truth serves as the first aim of this project. The second aim (though it is perhaps more prominent throughout) regards the presentation of a pragmatic theory of truth from a prolific classical pragmatist philosopher, F.C.S. Schiller (b. 1864), a close friend and colleague of William James, whose work has gone largely unconsidered since his death in 1937. Schiller’s comprehensive and detailed account of truth dissolves the apparent horns of Stich’s “dilemma” and provides a strong basis for examining truth within the conceptual framework of enactivism. In presenting Schiller’s account of truth, I hope to further elucidate and strengthen the relationship between classical Pragmatism and Cognitive Science, while also contributing to the ongoing “turn” by presenting an approach to truth that fits within the broader enactivist paradigm. The three main chapters of this dissertation (2-4), present an overview of Schiller’s pragmatic understanding of metaphysics (2) and truth (3), offer various criticisms of at least one version of the correspondence theory of truth (3), and provide some answers to common objections raised against the pragmatic theory of truth (4), particularly its dimensions of relativity and subjectivity.
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    Oral history interview with Don Norman
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2020-01-28) Norman, Don
    This oral history, with one of Human Computer Interaction’s (HCI) and Cognitive Science’s foremost pioneers Don Norman, is part of a CBI project done for ACM SIGCHI. It briefly addresses Norman’s early life, before focusing on his graduate education and prolific career. This includes Norman’s discussion of his mentors and influences, career launch, leadership in Cognitive Science, and his intellectual and organizational contributions to HCI as field and ACM SIGCHI as an organization (the field and SIGCHI’s evolution). He recounts his leadership of UCSD’s Design Laboratory, his Chairing the UCSD Psychology Dept., educational philosophies, research management, and collaborations (with George Mandler, Danny Bobrow, and many others). He also touches upon his consulting, and his time working in industry (Apple, HP). Finally, the interview offers contexts on some of his principal publications, including his seminal book The Psychology of Everyday Things (POET), which along with his other scholarship developed and propelled forward a science of design.
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    Oral history interview with Stuart Card
    (Charles Babbage Institute, 2020-02-17) Card, Stuart
    This interview is part of a series on Human Computer Interaction (HCI) conducted by the Charles Babbage Institute for ACM SIGCHI (Association for Computing Machinery Special Interest Group for Computer Human Interaction). HCI Pioneer Stuart Card discusses early education, attending Oberlin College, and helping lead its computer center, before the bulk of the interview focuses on his graduate education at Carnegie Mellon University working under Allen Newell, and his long and influential tenure at Xerox PARC. This includes his long and impactful collaboration with Newell and fellow Newell doctoral student Tom Moran. Newell, Card, and Moran were fundamentally important to theorizing early Human Computer Interaction, and the three co-wrote the widely used and deeply insightful textbook, The Psychology of Human Computer Interaction. Card provides an overview of his decades of work of Xerox PARC and various aspects of his research contributions to HCI models, information visualization, and information access (especially foraging theory). He moved into managing research and also relates a portion of his leadership roles at PARC and outside on important committees such as for the National Academy of Science. He briefly expresses his ideas on the early institutional history of SIGCHI and its evolution. Regarding his work at PARC, Card discusses his influential work on computer mice research at greater length. Card became an adjunct professor at Stanford University. He is an ACM Fellow and was awarded SIGCHI’s Lifetime Research Achievement Award.