Principles of Cognition, Language and Action Essays on the Foundatio
This book addresses a growing concern as to why Psychology, now more than a hundred years after becoming an independent research area, does not yet meet the basic requirements of a scientific discipline on a par with other sciences such as physics and bio
- PDF / 59,281,936 Bytes
- 498 Pages / 453.6 x 680.28 pts Page_size
- 32 Downloads / 233 Views
PRINCIPLES OF COGNITION, LANGUAGE AND ACTION Essays on the Foundations of a Science of Psychology
by
N. Praetorius University of Copenhagen, Denmark
SPRINGER SCIENCE+BUSINESS MEDIA, B.V.
A CLP. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-7923-6231-9 ISBN 978-94-011-4036-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-94-011-4036-2
Cover Design: 'Le Cabinet du Naturaliste' by Pierre Roy. © Tate Gallery, London 1999
Printed on acid-free paper
All Rights Reserved © 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht Originally published by Kluwer Academic Publishers in 2000 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2000 No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the copyright owner.
To the memory of my beloved son David, who taught me what it is to be a person.
Contents
FOREWORD
xiii xx
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS PART I: THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SCIENCE OF PSYCHOLOGY INTRODUCTION TO ASSUMPTIONS AND ARGUMENTS 1.1 Basic assumptions of Naturalism and Constructivism 1.2 Implications of Constructivist and Naturalist assumptions 1.3 Consequences for Psychology of Perception 2
3
ALTERNATIVE ASSUMPTIONS AND PRINCIPLES 2.1 Criteria for a research area to attain the status of a science 2.2 Basic assumptions for a science of Psychology 2.3 Principles of Cognition, Language and Action PROBLEMS OF EXPLANATIONS AND THEORIES OF VISUAL PERCEPTION 3.1 Introduction 3.2 Mind-Body dualism 3.3 Gibson's theory of perception 3.4 Marr's computational model of vision 3.4.1 The Primal Sketch 3.4.2 The 2V2D Sketch 3.4.3 The 3D Model VB
3 7 9 18 27 27 35
40
45 45
48 50
59 61
62 65
Vlll
4
CONSEQUENCES FOR PERCEPTION PSYCHOLOGY AND EPISTEMOLOGY 4.1 Similarities between Gibson's andMarr's theories of perception 4.2 Conditions for canying out investigations in perception psychology 4.3 General epistemological consequences and implications 4.4 Assumptions and aims for a psychological science of perception
PART II: THE RELATION BETWEEN LANGUAGE, COGNITION AND REALITY 5
THE RELATION BETWEEN LANGUAGE AND REALITY 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Basic assumptions 5.2.1 The reflexivity of natural language 5.2.2 The concept of truth of natural language 5.2.3 Consequences for Subjective Idealism 5.3 The principle of the general correctness of language 5.3.1 Consequences for Correspondence Theories of truth 5.3.2 Consequences for Language-Reality Relativism 5.3.3 The logical space of descriptions
6
LANGUAGE, CONCEPTS AND REALITY 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Saussure's delimitation of the language form as an independent object of linguistic research 6.2.1 The Principle of the arbitrary nature of the linguistic sign 6.2.2 The differential identity and relational value of the linguistic sign 6.2.3 Problems and consequences of the twin-principles of the arbitrary and relational nature of the sign 6.2.4 The "nomenclature-view" of
