Cognitive Science Rescues the Deconstructed Mind | John Vervaeke | TEDxUofT

Summary

The speaker explores the multifaceted nature of the mind through various scientific disciplines, highlighting the fragmentation and the need for integration. Neuroscience, AI, psychology, linguistics, and anthropology each offer unique perspectives but lack a cohesive language. Cognitive science emerges as the field tasked with bridging these gaps, aiming to avoid confusion and ignorance. The talk underscores the existential crisis of modern humans feeling disconnected from the scientific worldview they've created, suggesting cognitive science as a path to reintegration and meaning.

Takeaways

• 🧠 The concept of 'mind' is being deconstructed by modern science into multiple disciplines, each with its own methods and terminologies.
• 🧬 Neuroscience views the mind as the brain, focusing on neuronal firing and neuro-wiring, which contrasts with other disciplines' approaches.
• 💻 Computer science and AI see the mind as information processing, creating machines to emulate cognition and discussing it in terms of algorithms and neural networks.
• 📊 Psychology studies the mind through behavior, using experimental methods and statistical data, yet it may overlook the immediate cognitive processes.
• 🗣 Linguistics examines the mind as language, using transformational grammar and deep structure to understand how language conveys thought.
• 🌐 Anthropology considers the mind as cultural cognition, emphasizing the collective and distributed nature of problem-solving and cognition.
• 🔄 There's a risk of confusion and equivocation when discussing the mind due to the different 'languages' used by various disciplines.
• 🧩 Cognitive science aims to integrate the empirical evidence and theories from different disciplines to understand the mind holistically.
• 🌐 The fragmentation of the mind in scientific study mirrors a broader fragmentation in human self-understanding and meaning.
• 🔄 Cognitive science's reintegration of the mind could potentially address the existential crisis of meaning and alienation in the modern worldview.

Q & A

What does the term 'mind' traditionally refer to?

Traditionally, the term 'mind' refers to something singular, substantial, and almost full, suggesting a unified concept.

How is the modern science deconstructing the concept of the mind?

Modern science deconstructs the mind by studying it from multiple levels of reality and using different methods, data, and terminologies across various disciplines.

What analogy is used to describe the different disciplines studying the mind?

The analogy used is that each discipline is like a unique language, each with its own conceptual vocabulary and theoretical grammar.

How does neuroscience study the mind?

Neuroscience studies the mind as the brain, using tools like fMRI and EEG data, and discussing it in terms of neuronal firing and neuro-wiring.

What is the perspective of computer science and artificial intelligence on the mind?

Computer science and artificial intelligence study the mind as information processing, focusing on creating machines that exhibit cognition and discussing it in terms of programs and learning algorithms.

What method does psychology use to study the mind?

Psychology studies the mind as behavior, using experimentation, gathering statistical data, and analyzing it with terms like working memory and problem formulation.

Why is language important in the study of the mind according to the script?

Language is important because it communicates, facilitates, and conveys the mind, making it a representative of cognition.

How does linguistics study the mind?

Linguistics studies the mind as language, gathering data from participants' judgments on grammaticality and discussing it using notions like transformational grammar and deep structure.

What role does culture play in cognition according to anthropology?

Culture plays a central role in cognition as most problem-solving is done collectively with distributed cognition, which is the cultural cognition studied by anthropology.

What method does anthropology use to study the mind?

Anthropology uses participant observation as its method, where anthropologists experience and study other cultures, undergoing enculturation and producing ethnographies.

What is the main challenge faced by cognitive science as described in the script?

The main challenge faced by cognitive science is to integrate the empirical evidence and theories from various disciplines to create a unified understanding of the mind that avoids confusion and ignorance.

Why is it important to integrate the understanding of the mind across disciplines?

Integrating the understanding of the mind across disciplines is important to capture the causal interaction between the levels of the mind, avoid equivocation and confusion, and to provide a more holistic view of cognition.

What is the 'meaning crisis' mentioned in the script?

The 'meaning crisis' refers to the alienation and despair felt due to the fragmentation of self-understanding and disconnection from the scientific worldview, which has led to a crisis of meaning in modern society.