Chrysippus' dog as a case study in non-linguistic cognition
Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2009 papers
Abstract
To illustrate the explanatory potential of cognitive maps, this chapter deploys them against a venerable philosophical argument for languageless thought and reasoning. The explanation shows that we can accommodate Chrysippus' dog without assimilating animal minds to human minds. The chapter illustrates the explanatory resources of an intermediate position that countenances non-linguistic cognition while sharply distinguishing it from linguistic cognition. It focuses on two crucial features of human propositional attitudes: they have logical form, and they participate in deductive reasoning sensitive to that form. Discussions of Chrysippus' dog typically choose among four strategies: (1) Treat the dog as executing a deductive inference; (2) Attribute logical reasoning to the dog, but construe the attribution instrumentally; (3) Do not attribute logical reasoning to the dog; and (4) Grant that the dog records no additional relevant observations beyond those mentioned by Chrysippus. The chapter presents a Bayesian-cum-cartographic model of Chrysippus' dog.
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