Grammar and Glamour of Cooperation: Lectures on the Philosophy of Mind, Language and Action (Warsaw Studies in Philosophy and Social Sciences)

This book is a collection of essays, weaving together cognitive psychology, psycho-linguistics, developmental psychology, modern philosophy and behavioural sciences. It raises the question: how does grammar relate to our remarkable ability to cooperate for future needs? The author investigates the interconnections between the mechanisms governing cooperation and reciprocal altruism on the one hand and the capacity to generate an infinite range of expressions from a finite set of syntactically structured elements on the other. Based on these premises, the specific character of cognitive explanations, possible architectures of mind, non-formal grammar and tacit knowledge are explored. Furthermore the author deals with the role of conceptual representations in explaining grammar, the modular structure of mind and the evolutionary origins of human language ability and moral authority. Cover Table of Contents Introduction: Between Criticism and Defence of a Computational Reason 1. Glamour 2. Logos, Verbum, Concept 3. Thresholds 4. Architecture 5. Evolutionary Explanation 6. Generativity 7. Beyond Modularity 8. Tacit Functions of Mind 9. Non-Formal Grammar 10. Mind, Grammar, and Evolution Part One: Grammar I. What are Rules of Grammar? The view from the Psychological and Linguistic Perspective 1. Syntactocentric View of Language and Beyond 1.1. Syntax 1.2. Competence 2. Basic Assumptions 3. On the Relations Between Levels of Linguistic Description 3.1. The Relation Between Syntax and Semantics 3.2. The Relation Between Lexical and Encyclopaedic Meanings, Semantics and Pragmatics 4. Criteria for the Characterization of Meaning 4.1. Conditional Criteria 4.2. Operational Criteria 5. What Are Rules of Grammar? 6. Conclusions II. Rethinking Language Faculty. Has Language Evolved for Other than Language Related Reasons? 1. Language, Language Faculty, Language Faculty in Narrow Sense 2. Two Kinds of Similarity: Analogous and Homologous 3. Evolution, Natural Selection and Adaptations III. The Concept of Linguistic Intelligence and Beyond 1. Introduction 2. The Idea of Multiple Intelligences 3. The Nature of Linguistic Intelligence 4. Dissociations Between Language and General Intelligence 5. Conclusion and Implications for Education IV. Language and its Doppelgängers 1. Initial Distinction 2. What is Language for? 3. In Vain Search of Recursion in the Living World 4. The Decomposition of Language 5. Language and Beyond Part Two: Cooperation I. The Evolution of the Disposition for Cooperative Behaviour Versus Symbolic Communication. The Case of Peter Gärdenfors 1. The Evolutionary Explanation of the Existence of Language 2. Cues and Detached Representations 3. Anticipatory Planning 4. Signals and Symbols 5. Cooperation and Communication by Symbols 6. The Logic of the Evolution of Language 7. The Evolution of Referential Expressions 7.1. Names 7.2. Nouns 7.3. Adjectives 8. The Origin of a Detached Man 9. Conclusions: Language and Cooperation II. Boundary of Modularity. The Case of a Faculty of Social Cognition 1. Problem 2. From Spatial Representation to Representation of Persons? 3. The Autonomy of a Faculty of Social Cognition 4. The Structure of a Social Cognition Faculty 5. Input-Output versus Central Modules 6. Arguments Against Modular Structure of Concepts and Attempts to Refute Them 7. Evolutionary Development of Modular Conceptual Structure 8. Modules of a Conceptual Structure. The Auditory Processor 9. Multiple Inputs and Outputs on the Same “Blackboard” 10. Modules, Mental Organs, Cognitive Faculties 11. Vertical and Horizontal Psychology 12. Structure and Principles Governing Architectural Design 13. Conclusions III. The Problem of a Moral Faculty: Marc D. Hauser’s Specific Approach to the Functioning of Moral Grammar 1. First Intuitions 2. Moral Organ 3. Modelling: From Perception to Reaction 4. Argumentation 4.1. Experiments 4.2. Moral Dilemmas 4.3. Developmental Psychology Tests 4.4. Animal Behaviour Studies 5. Conclusions IV. Risk and Cooperation. Uncertainty about the Behaviour of Others 1. Risk 2. Decisions 3. Zero-sum Game 4. The Prisoner’s Dilemma 5. The Logic of Cheating 6. Hypotheses References Index This book is a collection of essays, weaving together cognitive psychology, psycho-linguistics, developmental psychology, modern philosophy and behavioural sciences. It raises the question, how grammar relates to our remarkable ability to cooperate for future needs and how our thought process is related to grammatical parameters. Szymon Wróbel. Includes Bibliographical References (pages 229-243) And Index.