The Structure of Thinking: A Process-Oriented Account of Mind

Analytic philosophers and cognitive scientists have been arguing that the mind is a computer-like syntactical engine, and that all human mental capacities that are worth discussing can be described as digital computational processes. To defend this view, its proponents must insist that all thought can be structured in propositional format, and that all thinking processes are describable as logical functions on those propositions. Proponents of traditional cognitive science maintain that thinking is one type of activity, whether performed by humans or by computers. Against the tide of philosophers committed to this view this book presents a naturalistic view of human thinking, arguing that computers are merely sophisticated machines.

Laura Weed is assistant professor of philosophy and religious studies at the College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY.