Ebook: The Discovery of the Artificial: Behavior, Mind and Machines Before and Beyond Cybernetics

This series will include monographs and collections of studies devoted to the investigation and exploration of knowledge, information, and data processing systems of all kinds, no matter whether human, (other) animal, or machine. Its scope is intended to span the full range of interests from classical problems in the philosophy of mind and philosophical psychology through issues in cognitive psychology and sociobiology (concerning the mental capabilities of other species) to ideas related to artificial intelligence and to computer science. While primary emphasis will be placed upon theoretical, conceptual, and epistemological aspects of these problems and domains, empirical, experimental, and methodological studies will also appear from time to time. The present volume offers a broad and imaginative approach to the study of the mind, which emphasizes several themes, namely: the importance of functional organization apart from the specific material by means of which it may be implemented; the use of modeling to simulate these functional processes and subject them to certain kinds of tests; the use of mentalistic language to describe and predict the behavior of artifacts; and the subsumption of processes of adaptation, learning, and intelligence by means of explanatory principles. The author has produced a rich and complex, lucid and readable discussion that clarifies and illuminates many of the most difficult problems arising within this difficult domain.

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The book provides a valuable text for undergraduate and graduate courses on the historical and theoretical issues of Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Neuroscience, and the Philosophy of Mind. The book should also be of interest for researchers in these fields, who will find in it analyses of certain crucial issues in both the earlier and more recent history of their disciplines, as well as interesting overall insights into the current debate on the nature of mind.

From the reviews:

"...a book that will help those studying social sciences to realize the mechanical roots of the ongoing debate about cognition, but at the same time will help scholars of AI to put their discourse on intelligence in a historical and social perspective."

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The book provides a valuable text for undergraduate and graduate courses on the historical and theoretical issues of Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Neuroscience, and the Philosophy of Mind. The book should also be of interest for researchers in these fields, who will find in it analyses of certain crucial issues in both the earlier and more recent history of their disciplines, as well as interesting overall insights into the current debate on the nature of mind.

From the reviews:

"...a book that will help those studying social sciences to realize the mechanical roots of the ongoing debate about cognition, but at the same time will help scholars of AI to put their discourse on intelligence in a historical and social perspective."

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xx
Chemical Machines and Action Systems....Pages 1-30
Nervous Conduction: Early Connectionism, Physical Analogies and Machines....Pages 31-81
The Robot Approach....Pages 82-115
Behavior, Purpose and Teleology....Pages 116-152
Cybernetics and the Origins of Artificial Intelligence....Pages 153-186
New Steps Towards the Artificial....Pages 187-240
The Many Forms of the Artificial....Pages 241-279
Back Matter....Pages 281-314

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The book provides a valuable text for undergraduate and graduate courses on the historical and theoretical issues of Cognitive Science, Artificial Intelligence, Psychology, Neuroscience, and the Philosophy of Mind. The book should also be of interest for researchers in these fields, who will find in it analyses of certain crucial issues in both the earlier and more recent history of their disciplines, as well as interesting overall insights into the current debate on the nature of mind.

From the reviews:

"...a book that will help those studying social sciences to realize the mechanical roots of the ongoing debate about cognition, but at the same time will help scholars of AI to put their discourse on intelligence in a historical and social perspective."

Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xx
Chemical Machines and Action Systems....Pages 1-30
Nervous Conduction: Early Connectionism, Physical Analogies and Machines....Pages 31-81
The Robot Approach....Pages 82-115
Behavior, Purpose and Teleology....Pages 116-152
Cybernetics and the Origins of Artificial Intelligence....Pages 153-186
New Steps Towards the Artificial....Pages 187-240
The Many Forms of the Artificial....Pages 241-279
Back Matter....Pages 281-314
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