
Representational or semantic content plays an essential role in classical accounts of computation and cognition. Both cognitive science and computer science share philosophical foundations that endorse such a view. This has led quite naturally to a situation where computational theories of mind, theories which unite computation with cognition, have almost unanimously assumed that mental computation must also involve semantic content (see Pitt 2013). I will argue that mechanistic computationalism, as presented by Piccinini, can offer a genuinely non-semantic account of mental computation. Furthermore, I claim that if this account is correct it would provide important constraints on any theory of mental content. This is in contrast with Piccinini's position, which is that mechanistic computationalism should simply remain neutral on which theory of semantic content, if any, we should prefer.
non-semantic, computationalism
non-semantic, computationalism
| selected citations These citations are derived from selected sources. This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | 0 | |
| popularity This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network. | Average | |
| influence This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically). | Average | |
| impulse This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network. | Average |
