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Knowing and the Mystique of Logic and Rules

including True Statements in Knowing and Action * Computer Modelling of Human Knowing Activity * Coherent Description as the Core of Scholarship and Science

  • Book
  • © 1995

Overview

Authors:
  1. Peter Naur

    1. University of Copenhagen, Denmark

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Part of the book series: Studies in Cognitive Systems (COGS, volume 18)

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Table of contents (19 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
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  2. The Psychology of Knowing

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-4
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    2. William James’s Psychology of Knowing

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 5-50

    3. Bertrand Russell on Knowing

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 51-70

    4. J. L. Austin on How One Knows

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 71-73

    5. Gilbert Ryle on Knowing

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 75-86

    6. Summary on the Psychology of Knowing

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 87-89

  3. Language, or Knowing and Human Expression

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 91-94
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    2. Rules and Regularity in Language

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 95-110

    3. Rules and Regularity in Musical Composition

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 111-120

    4. Language Production and Understanding

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 121-136

    5. True Statements in Knowing and Action

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 137-160

  4. Computing Versus Human Knowing

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 161-163
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    2. Three Notions of Proof

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 165-169

    3. Proof versus Formalization

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 171-188

    4. Personal Style in Program Description and Understanding

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 189-212

    5. Computer Modelling of Human Knowing Activity

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 213-226

  5. Scholarship and Science

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 227-229
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    2. The Structure of DNA: Knowing in Biological Discovery

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 231-252

    3. Why the Sun Shines: Coherence and Models in Scientific Description

      • Peter Naur
      Pages 253-260
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Keywords

About this book

Human knowing is examined as it emerges from classical empirical psychology, with its ramifications into language, computing, science, and scholarship. While the discussion takes empirical support from a wide range, claims for the significance of logic and rules are challenged throughout. Highlights of the discussion:
  • knowing is a matter of habits or dispositions that guide the person's stream of consciousness;
  • rules of language have no significance in language production and understanding, being descriptions of linguistic styles;
  • statements that may be true or false enter into ordinary linguistic activity, not as elements of messages, but merely as summaries of situations, with a view to action;
  • in computer programming the significance of logic, proof, and formalized description, is incidental and subject to the programmer's personality;
  • analysis of computer modelling of the mental activity shows that in describing human knowing the computer is irrelevant;
  • in accounting for the scholarly/scientific activity, logic and rules are impotent;
  • a novel theory: scholarship and science have coherent descriptions as their core.
The discussion addresses questions that are basic to advanced applications of computers and to students of language and science.

Authors and Affiliations

  • University of Copenhagen, Denmark

    Peter Naur

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Knowing and the Mystique of Logic and Rules

  • Book Subtitle: including True Statements in Knowing and Action * Computer Modelling of Human Knowing Activity * Coherent Description as the Core of Scholarship and Science

  • Authors: Peter Naur

  • Series Title: Studies in Cognitive Systems

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8549-1

  • Publisher: Springer Dordrecht

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 1995

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-0-7923-3680-8Published: 31 August 1995

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-90-481-4609-3Published: 06 December 2010

  • eBook ISBN: 978-94-015-8549-1Published: 14 March 2013

  • Series ISSN: 0924-0780

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 368

  • Topics: Phenomenology, Philosophy of Language, Systems Theory, Control, Philosophy of Science

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