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Historical Roots of Cognitive Science

The Rise of a Cognitive Theory of Perception from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century

  • Book
  • © 1989

Overview

Authors:
  1. Theo C. Meyering

    1. Department of Philosophy, Leyden University, The Netherlands

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Part of the book series: Synthese Library (SYLI, volume 208)

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Table of contents (11 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
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  2. Introduction

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 1-13

  3. Reconstruction of the History of Medieval and (Post-) Cartesian Theories of Perception in Terms of the Negative Heuristics of their Respective Research Programs. Basic Epistemological Contrasts

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 14-20

  4. The Formation of Competing Optical Traditions in Early and Late Antiquity

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 21-36

  5. The Identity Postulate at Work in Various Research Programs in the Theory of Vision During Late Antiquity and During the Arab and European Middle Ages

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 37-64

  6. The Mathematization of Physics and the Mechanization of the World-Picture Gradually Prepared in the Development of Medieval Optics Rather Than in that of Terrestrial or Celestial Mechanics

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 65-69

  7. Mechanicism and the Rise of an Information Theory of Perception. A Naturalistic Reconstruction of (Post-) Cartesian Epistemology

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 70-108

  8. Epistemological Issues Underlying the Nineteenth Century Controversies in Physiological Optics. The Helmholtzian Program

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 109-124

  9. The Interplay between Philosophy and Physiology in Helmholtz’s View

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 125-148

  10. Helmholtz’s Theory of the Perception of Space

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 149-180

  11. Helmholtz’s Theory of Unconscious Inferences

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 181-208

  12. The Epistemological Outcome of Helmholtz’s Naturalism. Hypothetical Realism

    • Theo C. Meyering
    Pages 209-226

  13. Back Matter

    Pages 227-250
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Keywords

About this book

Cognitive science, in Howard Gardner's words, has a relatively short history but a very long past. While its short history has been the subject of quite a few studies published in recent years, the current book focuses instead on its very long past. It explores the emergence of the conceptual framework that was necessary to make the rise of modem cognitive science possible in the first place. Over the long course of the history of the theory of perception and of cognition, various conceptual breakthroughs can be discerned that have contributed significantly to the conception of the mind as a physical symbol system with intricate representational capacities and unimaginably rich computational resources. In historical retrospect such conceptual transitions-seemingly sudden and unannounced-are typically foreshadowed in the course of enduring research programs that serve as slowly developing theoretical con­ straint structures gradually narrowing down the apparent solution space for the scientific problems at hand. Ultimately the fundamental problem is either resolved to the satisfaction of the majority of researchers in the area of investigation, or else-and much more commonly-one or more of the major theoretical constraints is abandoned or radically modified, giving way to entirely new theoretical vistas. In the history of the theory of perception this process can be witnessed at vari­ ous important junctures.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Philosophy, Leyden University, The Netherlands

    Theo C. Meyering

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Historical Roots of Cognitive Science

  • Book Subtitle: The Rise of a Cognitive Theory of Perception from Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century

  • Authors: Theo C. Meyering

  • Series Title: Synthese Library

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2423-9

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Kluwer Academic Publishers 1989

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-0349-7Published: 31 July 1989

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-94-010-7592-3Published: 26 September 2011

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-009-2423-9Published: 06 December 2012

  • Series ISSN: 0166-6991

  • Series E-ISSN: 2542-8292

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XX, 252

  • Topics: Philosophy of Mind, History, general, Philosophy of Science

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