Those following the recent McGinn-Honderich review kerfuffle might be interested to read Chomsky’s reticient but nonetheless combative contribution to a symposium on Margaret Boden’s Mind as Machine: A History of Cognitive Science – see an earlier review by Harman. It begins . . . When I was asked to join a symposium on Margaret Boden’s history…
It is tiresome (and just downright false) for the Fundamentalist Right to claim that certain “alternative” lifestyles are incompatible with conservatism. In the first instance their grip on what conservatism is, is very weak and often at often at odds with the spirit of conservatism; and secondly, they do not appreciate that ideological categories are fluid and cannot…
I can now make available a full version of my review of Dennett. This version is still in MS form: if you want to cite the article, I will send you an off-print. You can drop me a line.
For us Chili heads or connoisseurs if you wish there are many sauces out there with novelty packaging designed to appeal to our habit. Unfortunately, however amusing as some of the marketing may be, most of these sauces tend to be very disappointing. Either they are too bland and watery – or they lack any…
30th ANNUAL MEETING OF THE COGNITIVE SCIENCE SOCIETY July 23-26, 2008 Washington DC The Cognitive Science Society wishes it to be known that the deadline for Member Abstract submissions for CogSci 2008 is February 1, the same as all other submission categories. Unlike past practice there will not be an April/May submission opportunity this year.…
With the passing of Peter Lipton, who formulated and coined the term “inference to the best explanation“(IBE) I was reminded that I once “controversially” (at least to some, though not philosophers of history) deployed the term in a paper to do with the philosophy of history. When I spoke to Peter about it, he couldn’t see any…
This posting refers to this posting. Excerpt from my Polybius essay. Oakeshott (1983: 94) characteristically offers a brilliant analysis of the problem which he calls the ‘dry wall theory’. Keeping in mind Pedach’s and Walbank’s account of historical development, Oakeshott believes that though historical events are not themselves contingent, they are related to one another contingently.…
manwithoutqualities 