Current debate in cognitive science, from robotics to analysis of vision, deals with problems like the perception of form, the structure and formation of mental images and their modelling, the ecological development of artificial intelligence, and cognitive analysis of natural language. It focuses in particular on the presence of a hierarchy of intellectual constructions in different formats of representation. These diverse approaches, which share a common assumption of the inner nature of representation, call for a new epistemology - even a new psychophysics - based on a theory of reference which is intrinsically cognitive. As a contribution to contemporary research, the reading presents the core of theories developed in Central Europe between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries by philosophers, physicists, psychologists and semanticists who shared a dynamic approach and a pronounced concern with problems of interaction and dependence. These theories offer innovative solutions to some of the epistemological and philosophical problems currently at the centre of debate, like part-whole, theory of relations, and conceptual and linguistic categorization.

Although consciousness is at the very center of who we are, its exact nature continues to confound modern science. From where does consciousness originate? At our core, are we material bodies or immaterial conscious minds? Many assume that consciousness is a product of our complex brains, a product of evolution—and yet, there is no evolutionary reason that a mechanical function of the brain should allow us to enjoy the beauty of a sunrise or become intoxicated with the smell of rain on dry earth. If consciousness is not the product of sophisticated human brains, might the nonhuman living world be conscious? If so, where does that place us in relation to the rest of life on Earth—and what does this imply about our domination and plundering of the natural world for resources? Dr. James Cooke is no stranger to intricate and existential questions such as these, and he confronts them head-on in his compelling, inventive, revolutionary new book, The Dawn of Mind. Weaving together cutting-edge science and the contemplative insights that arise from mystical experience, as occurs with meditation and the emerging therapeutic paradigm of psychedelic medicine, Cooke radically redraws our understanding of what it truly means to be who we are. Though Cooke approaches the question of consciousness from a rigorous, scientific stance, his first foray into the study of consciousness was an intensely personal one. On a bus ride through Colchester, the ancient Roman capital of Britain, Cooke spontaneously felt himself feeling intensely and fully connected with the natural world around him; his sense of self fell away entirely. This transcendent moment inspired years of scientific study and the contemplative exploration of personal mystical experiences, leading Cooke to a stunning revelation: our sense of self is not an objective fact but an illusion, a survival technique we use to try and find order in a disorderly world. We each construct a boundary between ourselves and the natural world, constantly simulating what will happen around us in order to survive and navigate our surroundings. (Consider this: how long would you make it if you were crossing a busy street and only reacted to an oncoming car reflexively, once you felt its touch on your skin?) Unlike the self, however, consciousness is no such illusion, and is the product of the very same survival process – it is the simulation in which our sense of self appears. Of course, we aren’t the only creatures who function in this way. According to Cooke, consciousness is not complex brain function that only we possess but a deeply embodied phenomenon, an essential feature of being a living thing. Sure, we aren’t conscious in the same way as a tree or a worm, but as living things we are all conscious; just maybe, this notion of our dominion over all other life on earth was a ruse all along. Understanding consciousness in this way is not just some theoretical exercise. As climate change amplifies by the day, a growing chorus of voices insists that our fundamental disconnect from nature is at the root of our ecological crisis. Healing the divide between nature and consciousness may be the key to extricating ourselves from this dire predicament.

An examination of the fundamental role cybernetics played in the birth of cognitive science and the light this sheds on current controversies. The conceptual history of cognitive science remains for the most part unwritten. In this groundbreaking book, Jean-Pierre Dupuy—one of the principal architects of cognitive science in France—provides an important chapter: the legacy of cybernetics. Contrary to popular belief, Dupuy argues, cybernetics represented not the anthropomorphization of the machine but the mechanization of the human. The founding fathers of cybernetics—some of the greatest minds of the twentieth century, including John von Neumann, Norbert Wiener, Warren McCulloch, and Walter Pitts—intended to construct a materialist and mechanistic science of mental behavior that would make it possible at last to resolve the ancient philosophical problem of mind and matter. The importance of cybernetics to cognitive science, Dupuy argues, lies not in its daring conception of the human mind in terms of the functioning of a machine but in the way the strengths and weaknesses of the cybernetics approach can illuminate controversies that rage today—between cognitivists and connectionists, eliminative materialists and Wittgensteinians, functionalists and anti-reductionists. Dupuy brings to life the intellectual excitement that attended the birth of cognitive science sixty years ago. He separates the promise of cybernetic ideas from the disappointment that followed as cybernetics was rejected and consigned to intellectual oblivion. The mechanization of the mind has reemerged today as an all-encompassing paradigm in the convergence of nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science. The tensions, contradictions, paradoxes, and confusions Dupuy discerns in cybernetics offer a cautionary tale for future developments in cognitive science.

Main headings: Part I. Cognitive science in crisis?.- Part II. Epistemology and methodology.- Part III. Consciousness and selfhood. Japanese are examined.

Cognitive Psychology: Theory, Process, and Methodology engages students in the key topics of study by making connections to situations and encounters in their day-to-day lives. Employing a student-friendly and personal writing style, with a focus on methodology, Dawn M. McBride, J. Cooper, and new coauthor Corinne Zimmerman, cover essential topics such as perception, attention, memory, language, reasoning and problem solving, and cognitive neuroscience. Updates to the Third Edition include a reorganization of core chapters, new research and citations, a new chapter on cognitive development, and a fully executed plan to include more diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout. This title is accompanied by a complete teaching and learning package. Contact your SAGE representative to request a demo. Digital Option / Courseware SAGE Vantage is an intuitive digital platform that delivers this text’s content and course materials in a learning experience that offers auto-graded assignments and interactive multimedia tools, all carefully designed to ignite student engagement and drive critical thinking. Built with you and your students in mind, it offers simple course set-up and enables students to better prepare for class. Learn more. Assignable Video with Assessment Assignable video (available with SAGE Vantage) is tied to learning objectives and curated exclusively for this text to bring concepts to life. Watch a sample video now. LMS Cartridge: Import this title’s instructor resources into your school’s learning management system (LMS) and save time. Don’t use an LMS? You can still access all of the same online resources for this title via the password-protected Instructor Resource Site. Learn more.