The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Science by Keith Frankish (PDF)

Description

Cognitive science is a cross-disciplinary enterprise devoted to understanding the nature of the mind. In recent years, investigators in philosophy, psychology, the neurosciences, artificial intelligence, and a host of other disciplines have come to appreciate how much they can learn from one another about the various dimensions of cognition. The result has been the emergence of one of the most exciting and fruitful areas of inter-disciplinary research in the history of science. This volume of original essays surveys foundational, theoretical, and philosophical issues across the discipline, and introduces the foundations of cognitive science, the principal areas of research, and the major research programs. With a focus on broad philosophical themes rather than detailed technical issues, the volume will be valuable not only to cognitive scientists and philosophers of cognitive science, but also to those in other disciplines looking for an authoritative and up-to-date introduction to the field.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐The Cambridge Handbook of Cognitive Science is a good reference book dealing with the history, the most current developments and research in cognitive science. It is not a technical book. It is rather a collection of essays by experts in the field: psychology, philosophy, computer science, neuroscience and anthropology.”A number of the chapters in this volume are written by people who are usually characterized, not as cognitive scientists per se, but as philosophers of cognitive science”.I found it a little bit difficult to read. Some parts I needed to read more slowly and carefully. Cognitive science is still a field of knowledge that is not entirely unified and coherent. Its is in its infancy. We are far from fully understanding how the brain and mind works, despite the progress made. This book describes some theories that have been developed throughout history to the present, on cognitive processes in the brain/mind: memory, learning, perception, action, decision making, language, emotion, consciousness .My final thought is that there are too much to investigate further, to integrate many different theories into a coherent and unified theory of mind. This book is a good reference on the state of the art in cognitive science (mostly philosophical), and the exciting and challenging interdisciplinary research, going on, and still to carry out

⭐This is a compilation of papers from various authors covering numerous subjects in the growing field of cognitive science. The field includes AI R and R, but the papers d o not specifically address this subject aside from describing how AI development may stem from research in cognitive science and how AI algorithms may help in the development of the study of mind, memory, and action. I found the papers on cognition and evolution fascinating.

⭐As expected

⭐Cambridge. What could go wrong.

⭐fine

⭐Great book arrived in perfect timing

⭐I’m neither a philosopher nor computer scientist nor any variety of neuroscientist. I am however interested in advances in hg field of cognitive science and this book looks like a useful reference tool (which, in fact, it turns out to be).Level of abstraction is the important consideration in a book like this: is it accessible to non-scientist readers or does it oversimplify complicated matters? The Cambridge Handbook succeeds very well on this count. It is definitely not an easy book to read. It bears slow and careful attention, with time between topics to reflect and absorb what has gone before, but a lay reader of either philosophy or other facets of cognitive science will be able to follow the argument and benefit from the concise summaries of complicated topics which it provides.The chapters are written by experts who are for the most part prominent in their fields of study. Many are philosophers but an anthropologist is included as are a quantitative analyst, a neuroscientist and a computer scientist, and several psychologists represented among the authors, each writing on their own area of expertise and research. Only one of them have I read before -Ray Jackendorf on language acquisition and use. It was interesting for me to read these articles because most of my reading has been about either computer simulation or applied brain research. Although I was aware that philosophy was part of the mix of disciplines adding to our understanding of cognitive issues, I knew little of what philosophers had written on these themes.As to its layout, the book is presented in three sections: foundations (historical overview and core themes; separate entries on the representational theory of the mind and cognitive architectures -the latter is especially helpful); aspects of cognition (from perception through emotion and consciousness); and research programs.The articles run roughly twenty pages each and are organized by headings and subheadings for easy reference. Each includes a bibliography of the references used in the article and suggestions for further reading. They seem to this reader to be scrupulously fair in presenting different views in their fields: it’s quite helpful for an amateur like me who is trying to keep up with a field of vast importance for us but one which is also highly technical and rapidly changing. One theme that runs through several of the entries in the hope that sometime in the not too distant future, a unifying theory will be found to bridge rule-derived and connectionist theories of, for instance, language acquisition, and to bring closer the insights yielded by computer simulations and the study of the brain.

⭐Contrary to its title this is not a handbook in the traditional meaning of the word, as an encyclopaedic reference work (e.g. most Cambridge Handbooks are 2-3 times its length). Instead, each of the 15 chapters is a brief introduction to a topic, written by an expert, but dealing with the basics. These cover a comprehensive range of subjects, including representation, perception, action, concepts, consciousness, neuroscience, and so on. The Editors have done a good job of standardising the chapters as regards length, level of difficulty, and balance between competing theories. Most chapters also cover the historical development of the discipline. Each is followed by annotated recommended reading and references to the primary literature. The index and glossary are adequate and the price reasonable.Several chapters however have an abbreviated feel, as thought the editors had cut down the length and number of citations beyond what the authors first intended. But as a professional in the field, the main problem I had was that it is dated: no chapter contains a citation to research and texts published since 2010 (for some, 2007) … except for one: Ray Jackendoff’s chapter on language cites his 2012 book, which suggests to me that it was Jackendoff who held up publication for two years.Apart from that, I would recommend this book to anyone unfamiliar with cognitive science who wishes to learn what is happening in this important interdisciplinary field.

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