Richmond, Andrew (2023) Commentary: Investigating the concept of representation in the neural and psychological sciences. [Preprint]

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Abstract

This commentary concerns an assumption in Favela & Machery's "Investigating the concept of representation in the neural and psychological sciences," about the role of concepts in scientific cognition. That paper draws strong conclusions from interesting but incomplete information, arguing that because the concept of representation doesn't provide a clear taxonomy of neural activity (into the categories representational and non-representational), it has no legitimate role in the brain sciences. This commentary shows that the conclusion is premature, because scientific concepts do more than taxonomize. I discuss some other functions of scientific concepts, along with existing work that can be brought to bear on the study of those concepts. And I show how Favela & Machery's paper provides a starting-point for important work on the concept of representation, as long as we drop the mistaken assumption and the more ambitious conclusions.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Richmond, Andrew ar3688@columbia.edu
Keywords:	representation, conceptual reform, information, scientific concepts, cognition
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Psychology
Depositing User:	Andrew Richmond
Date Deposited:	17 Jul 2023 13:36
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2023 13:36
Item ID:	22313
Subjects:	Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science General Issues > Explanation Specific Sciences > Psychology
Date:	16 July 2023
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/22313

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• Commentary: Investigating the concept of representation in the neural and psychological sciences. (deposited 17 Jul 2023 13:36) [Currently Displayed]
  • Commentary: Investigating the concept of representation in the neural and psychological sciences. (deposited 01 Nov 2023 23:45)

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