Skip to content Skip to navigation
University of Warwick
  • Study
  • |
  • Research
  • |
  • Business
  • |
  • Alumni
  • |
  • News
  • |
  • About

University of Warwick
Publications service & WRAP

Highlight your research

  • WRAP
    • Home
    • Search WRAP
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse WRAP by Year
    • Browse WRAP by Subject
    • Browse WRAP by Department
    • Browse WRAP by Funder
    • Browse Theses by Department
  • Publications Service
    • Home
    • Search Publications Service
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse Publications service by Year
    • Browse Publications service by Subject
    • Browse Publications service by Department
    • Browse Publications service by Funder
  • Help & Advice
University of Warwick

The Library

  • Login
  • Admin

Cognitive science as an interface between rational and mechanistic explanation

Tools
- Tools
+ Tools

Chater, Nick (2014) Cognitive science as an interface between rational and mechanistic explanation. Topics in Cognitive Science, 6 (2). pp. 331-337. doi:10.1111/tops.12087 ISSN 1756-8757.

Research output not available from this repository.

Request-a-Copy directly from author or use local Library Get it For Me service.

Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/tops.12087

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

Cognitive science views thought as computation; and computation, by its very nature, can be understood in both rational and mechanistic terms. In rational terms, a computation solves some information processing problem (e.g., mapping sensory information into a description of the external world; parsing a sentence; selecting among a set of possible actions). In mechanistic terms, a computation corresponds to causal chain of events in a physical device (in engineering context, a silicon chip; in biological context, the nervous system). The discipline is thus at the interface between two very different styles of explanation--as the papers in the current special issue well illustrate, it explores the interplay of rational and mechanistic forces.

Item Type: Journal Article
Divisions: Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School > Behavioural Science
Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Journal or Publication Title: Topics in Cognitive Science
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, Inc.
ISSN: 1756-8757
Official Date: April 2014
Dates:
DateEvent
April 2014Published
20 March 2014Available
August 2014Accepted
Volume: 6
Number: 2
Page Range: pp. 331-337
DOI: 10.1111/tops.12087
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: Published
Access rights to Published version: Open Access (Creative Commons)

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item View Item
twitter

Email us: wrap@warwick.ac.uk
Contact Details
About Us