Tim van Gelder
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Tim van Gelder is an associate professor of philosophy and a fellow of the Philosophy Department at the University of Melbourne. Van Gelder is one of the foremost proponents of dynamicism or dynamic cognition in cognitive science. This is a theory of cognition that proposes that dynamical systems theory provides a better model (or metaphor) for human cognition than the 'computational' model. For example, he tries to show that a Watt governor is a better metaphorical description of the way humans think than a Turing machine style computer.[1] Dynamicism is closely associated with connectionism. Both approaches are suspicious of representationalism, with dynamicism being even more suspicious than connectionism in this respect. Some dynamicists argue that representations are simply not necessary to model cognition.
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[edit] Development of argument mapping software
As a leading proponent of critical thinking, van Gelder has been working on the development of the reasoning and argument mapping software, Reason!Able at the University of Melbourne. The latest update of which, called Rationale is available in pre-release for Melbourne University student use, prior to its public release in September 2006. van Gelder uses this software to help 'teach' the first year philosophy subject Critical Thinking: The Art of Reasoning which reliably achieves substantial gains in the critical thinking abilities of students (0.7 to 0.85 standard deviations) as measured by pre and post semester testing with the use of control groups of the same ages as the student cohort both studying at Melbourne University and not studying at university. [1]
[edit] Critics
Chris Eliasmith wrote a critique of Tim van Gelder's dynamicism and his proposal to replace the Turing machine by the Watt govenor as a model of cognition. Eliasmith argued that the Turing machine concept is more encompassing and better suited as a guiding metaphor than the Watt govenor, because the latter is a concrete machine and the former is a mathematical abstraction representing of a whole class of machines.[2]
[edit] References
- ^ van Gelder, T. "What might cognition be, if not computation?". Journal of Philosophy (91): 345-381.
- ^ Eliasmith, C. "Computation and dynamical models of mind". Minds and Machines (7): 531-541.
[edit] Further reading
van Gelder, T. J. (1999) 'Dynamic approaches to cognition'. In R. Wilson & F. Keil ed., The MIT Encyclopedia of Cognitive Sciences. Cambridge MA: MIT Press, 244-6.
