[SydPhil] MQ Philosophy Seminar on Tuesday the 12th of September in Blackshield room: Nik Alksnis (La Trobe)

[Adam Hochman]

Hegel, Kepler, and the science of affordances



Nik Alksnis (La Trobe)



Date: Tuesday, 12th of September
Time: 13:00 - 14:00
Venue: Blackshield Room (W3A 501)

All welcome



Abstract: In Chemero's (2009) attempt to propose an anti-computationalist theory of mind, he invokes the idea of Hegelian explanation: the drawing on irrelevant, a priori, information to justify an empirical claim. Just as Hegel used Plato's ideas of perfection to conclude the number of planets in the solar system, for Chemero, the computationalists, and similar, are in danger of doing the same: bringing in the irrelevant abstract ideas to justify empirical facts about the mind and intelligence. A similar appeal to historical figures can be found by Chemero in partnership with Raja and Biener (2017). Here the idea is that the mechanists moves of Descartes, Kepler, and Newton better fit with the ecological approach of J.J. Gibson, then to the comptuationlism of Turing (1953) and later Fodor (1975, 2008). The issue is, such an analysis seems to leave little room for theabstract cognitive object favoured by Chemero, that of the affordance (Gibson 1977, 1979). By adapting Fodor's explicitness principle (Fodor 1987) I will show the difficulties the theory of affordances has to be an explanatory part of the cognitive story. Furthermore, it will show how we can combine Chemero and Fodor's critiques but in doing so, there seems to be little room for either the concept of mental representations, as supported by Fodor, or affordances, as favoured by Chemero.



Contact: Adam Hochman (adam.hochman at mq.edu.au<mailto:adam.hochman at mq.edu.au>) or Mike Olson (michael.olson at mq.edu.au<mailto:michael.olson at mq.edu.au>)



A google calendar with details of other events in this series is available for viewing and subscription by following this link: goo.gl/3Iu7hk<https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/Rv1VB2feagd5T4?domain=goo.gl>

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Adam Hochman
Lecturer in Philosophy & Macquarie University Research Fellow

Department of Philosophy | W6A, Room 733
Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia

Staff Profile | http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/faculties_and_departments/faculty_of_arts/department_of_philosophy/staff/adam_hochman/

Academia.edu Page | https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/vxwbB0T3vdm0T0?domain=mq.academia.edu

Philpapers Page | https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/nbpeB1Uz9Da0te?domain=philpapers.org

Personal Website | adamhochman.com
[Macquarie University]<http://mq.edu.au/>

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