Complexity and the function of mind in nature /
Godfrey-Smith, Peter,
Complexity and the function of mind in nature / Complexity & the Function of Mind in Nature Peter Godfrey-Smith. - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1996. - 1 online resource (xiii, 311 pages) : digital, PDF file(s). - Cambridge studies in philosophy and biology . - Cambridge studies in philosophy and biology. .
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
This book explains the relationship between intelligence and environmental complexity, and in so doing links philosophy of mind to more general issues about the relations between organisms and environments, and to the general pattern of 'externalist' explanations. The author provides a biological approach to the investigation of mind and cognition in nature. In particular he explores the idea that the function of cognition is to enable agents to deal with environmental complexity. The history of the idea in the work of Dewey and Spencer is considered, as is the impact of recent evolutionary theory on our understanding of the place of mind in nature.
9781139172714 (ebook)
Philosophy of mind.
Cognition.
BD418.3 / .G63 1996
128/.2
Complexity and the function of mind in nature / Complexity & the Function of Mind in Nature Peter Godfrey-Smith. - Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 1996. - 1 online resource (xiii, 311 pages) : digital, PDF file(s). - Cambridge studies in philosophy and biology . - Cambridge studies in philosophy and biology. .
Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).
This book explains the relationship between intelligence and environmental complexity, and in so doing links philosophy of mind to more general issues about the relations between organisms and environments, and to the general pattern of 'externalist' explanations. The author provides a biological approach to the investigation of mind and cognition in nature. In particular he explores the idea that the function of cognition is to enable agents to deal with environmental complexity. The history of the idea in the work of Dewey and Spencer is considered, as is the impact of recent evolutionary theory on our understanding of the place of mind in nature.
9781139172714 (ebook)
Philosophy of mind.
Cognition.
BD418.3 / .G63 1996
128/.2