Connectionism

A theory of the mind with many versions. They have in common that they set up models which employ simple interactions between the nodes in a computer network in such a way that sets of these interactions occur at the same time (or ‘in parallel’, hence ‘parallel processing’). This uses the information processing in

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Consistent empiricism

Name given by the German philosopher Moritz Schlick (1882-1936), a member of the Vienna circle, to his own version of logical positivism. Source: M Schlick, ‘Meaning and Verification’, Philosophical Review (1936), 343 Overview Bas van Fraassen is nearly solely responsible for the initial development of constructive empiricism; its historically most important presentation appears in his The Scientific Image (1980). Constructive empiricism

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Correspondence or relational theories of meaning

Theories which analyze the meaning of words in terms of things they stand for in some sense, be these objects of various kinds (also see: naming theories of meaning) or ideas and so on. For such a theory concerning sentences, also see: ideational theories of meaning, picture theory of meaning History Correspondence theory is a traditional model

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Descriptive theory of names

Theory that proper names, or some of them, and words for natural kinds, like ‘tiger’ or ‘water’, have meaning by specifying a description that the object or stuff concerned must satisfy for the name to apply to it. For example ‘tiger’ means ‘fierce animal with stripes…’, ‘water’ means ‘colorless tasteless liquid suitable for drinking

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Bioeconomics (1970S)

Developed by American economist Gary Becker (1930- ), bioeconomics term refers to an area of economics in which sociobiology is applied to explain human behavior in a capitalist economic system. Becker asserted that the combined assumptions of maximizing behavior, market equilibrium and stable preferences were at the heart of the economic approach. Seeing the economic approach

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Bounded rationality (1980S)

Developed by American behaviorist Herbert Simon (1916-2001), bounded rationality is an analysis of decision-making which accepts that there are cognitive limits to an individual’s knowledge and capacity to act rationally. Also see: uncertainty, bernouilli’s hypothesis SOURCE: R M CYERT AND J G MARCH, A BEHAVIORAL THEORY OF THE FIRM (ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., 1975) H A SIMON, MODELS OF

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Aristotelianism

Aristotelianism (/ˌærɪstəˈtiːliənɪzəm/ ARR-i-stə-TEE-lee-ə-niz-əm) is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. Aristotle was a prolific writer whose works cover many subjects including physics, biology, metaphysics, logic, ethics, aesthetics, poetry, theatre, music, rhetoric, psychology, linguistics, economics, politics, and government. Any school of thought that takes one of Aristotle’s distinctive positions as its starting point can be considered “Aristotelian” in the widest sense. This means that different Aristotelian theories (e.g. in

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atomic uniformity, principle of

Principle used by the English economist John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) in trying to justify induction. It said that, if induction is to work, a complex change must be resolvable into a set of component changes each of which is separately attributable to some distinct feature of the preceding state of affairs. Also see: INDUCTIVE PRINCIPLE Source:

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bivalence, law or principle of

Theory that every proposition is either true or false. Possible objections are of two kinds. First, can we decide what counts as a proposition in the relevant sense? Second, might not the principle fail for some presumably genuine propositions; for example, ‘Jones was brave’ (where Jones died peacefully after a life entirely devoid of

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charity, principle of

Principle named by Neil L. Wilson – in Review of Metaphysics (1958-59), page 532 – that when interpreting another speaker, especially of an unknown language, we should make those assumptions about his intelligence, knowledge, sense of relevance and so on, that will make most of what he says come out true. Also see: principle of

continuity, law or principle of

Principle of Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) which can be roughly rendered as saying that when the difference between two causes is diminished indefinitely, so is the difference between their effects (though Leibniz would not put it in these causal terms, since for him God is the only true cause). ‘Nature makes no leaps’, as he says

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contradiction, law of

Also called the law (or principle) of non-contradiction. One of the traditional three laws of thought (the other two being the laws of identity and of excluded middle). Variously formulated as saying that no proposition can be both true and not true; or that nothing can be – without qualification – the case and not the case at the

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descriptions, theory of

Theory invented by English philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) in 1905 to show how denoting phrases like ‘the present king of France’ could still have meaning though there is nothing for them to denote. Russell claimed that the grammatical form of ‘The present king of France is bald’ is misleading as to its logical form,

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effluxes, theory of

Theory associated with Greek atomism and its revival in the corpuscularian philosophy of the 17th century as well as by non-atomists like Empedocles (5th century BC). It holds that objects continually emit films from their surfaces, which cause them to be perceived, much as we ourselves might explain smell. Lucretius (1st century BC) also uses the theory to explain dreams

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epistemic closure, principle of

Principle that, where P and Q are propositions, if we know that P, and know that P logically entails Q, we know that Q. Sometimes said to support skepticism, because if I know that, for example, I am holding a pen, and know that if I am holding a pen I am not merely dreaming

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excluded middle, law of

One of the traditional three laws of thought (along with the laws of identity and contradiction). Every proposition is either true or not true. This is weaker than the law of bivalence (every proposition is true or false), since if there is a third truth value excluded middle can still hold, though bivalence will fail. (However, bivalence is sometimes treated as

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greatest happiness principle

The canonical statement of Mill’s utilitarianism can be found in his book, Utilitarianism. Although this philosophy has a long tradition, Mill’s account is primarily influenced by Jeremy Bentham and Mill’s father James Mill. John Stuart Mill believed in the philosophy of utilitarianism, which he would describe as the principle that holds “that actions are right in the proportion as they tend

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hedonistic utilitarianism

Also known as the confirmation paradox, it was discovered by Carl Gustav Hempel (1905-1997). The statement ‘All prime ministers live at 10 Downing Street’ tends to be confirmed by finding a kennel containing a dog, because this is an example of a dwelling that is not 10 Downing Street which is the home of a non-prime-minister;

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humanity, principle of

PRINCIPLE NAMED BY RICHARD E GRANDY IN 1973 AS A SUPPLEMENT TO THE PRINCIPLE OF CHARITY. It says that when interpreting another speaker we must assume not simply that he is intelligent and so on, but that his beliefs and desires are connected to each other and to reality in a way that makes him

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hylomorphism

his article is about the concept of hylomorphism in Aristotelian philosophy. For the concept in computer science, see Hylomorphism (computer science). Hylomorphism (or hylemorphism) is a philosophical theory developed by Aristotle, which conceives being (ousia) as a compound of matter and form. The word is a 19th-century term formed from the Greek words ὕλη hyle, “wood, matter”, and μορφή, morphē, “form”. Matter and form Further information: Aristotle’s biology

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