An orthodoxy in classical cognitive science is that representation is symbolic and that functional architecture is modular. That modular theory is the cornerstone of Cognitive Neuropsychology (CN), which identifies functionally discrete neurocomputational entities by observing psychological disorder. While the symbolic theory of representation is optional for CN, the modular hypothesis is essen...

We argue that a fashionable interpretation of the theory of natural selection as a claim exclusively about populations is mistaken. The interpretation rests on adopting an analysis of fitness as a probabilistic propensity which cannot be substantiated, draws parallels with thermodynamics which are without foundations, and fails to do justice to the fundamental distinction between drift and sele...

In this article, we provide guidance for substantive researchers on the use of structural equation modeling in practice for theory testing and development. We present a comprehensive, two-step modeling approach that employs a series of nested models and sequential chi-square difference tests. We discuss the comparative advantages of this approach over a one-step approach. Considerations in spec...

We employ concepts from graph theory and cooperative game theory to reconstruct Granovetter’s famous thesis concerning ‘the strength of weak ties’. In contrast to existing formal models related to this thesis, our approach captures the mechanisms Granovetter invokes in the derivation of his thesis. Notably, our model allows for an analytical distinction between the strength of ties and the valu...

This paper has two main parts. The first is a critical survey of ways in which the explicit/implicit distinction has been and is currently construed in linguistic pragmatics, which reaches the conclusion that the distinction is not to be equated with a semantics/pragmatics distinction but rather concerns a division within communicated contents (or speaker meaning). The second part homes in on o...

In this paper, I examine Argumentation Theory (AT), a semantic framework best known for its detailed analyses of expressions with non-truth-conditional meaning, such as but and even. I sketch the development of the theory from its inception in the mid/late 1970s to the present day and I examine the basic AT notions and some of the theory’s implications. In the last section, I discuss some probl...

In an article written for the London Times in 1919, Einstein presented a remarkably clear and succinct, non-technical account of the theory of relativity. He began by drawing a distinction between &constructive' and &principle' theories, and pointed out that the theory of relativity should be understood as a principle theory &in order to properly grasp its nature'. (I use the translation in Ein...

This is a wonderful book; indeed, it is easily one of the most important and creative books I have ever read on the subject of causation and causal inference. Causality is impressive on many levels and should be of great interest to many different audiences. Philosophers will find of particular interest Pearl’s defense of what might be described as a broadly manipulationist or interventionist t...

Our image sequence interpretation process, which generates conceptual descriptions of the behaviour of vehicles in real-world traac scenes, essentially treated only a single vehicle (the agent) so far. Simultaneous behaviours of other vehicles in the scene have been formulated only relative to the agent. The approach discussed in this contribution allows us to quantify occurrences and thus to g...

We discuss a range of in vitro and in vivo approaches to deep lexical acquisition, and evaluate a representative sample of each in learning lexical items for a precision grammar. Evaluation focuses particularly on determining the effectiveness of each method at the token and type level, and over the four basic word classes of English. Each method is shown to have particular strengths and weakne...