Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Psychology is the study of thinking, and cognitive science is the interdisciplinary investigation of mind and intelligence that also includes philosophy, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics, and anthropology. In these investigations, many philosophical issues arise concerning methods and central concepts.

The Handbook of Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science contains 16 essays by leading philosophers of science that illuminate the nature of the theories and explanations used in the investigation of minds.

Topics discussed include representation, mechanisms, reduction, perception, consciousness, language, emotions, neuroscience, and evolutionary psychology.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• General Prface
• Introduction to teh Philosophy of Psychology and Cognitive Science
• List of Contributors Representation
• Mechanisms and Psychological Explanation
• Realization: Metaphysical and Scientific Perspectives
• Reduction: Models of Cross-Scientific Relations
• Perception Preattentive and Phenomenal
• Consciousness: Phenomenal Consciousness, Access Consciousness and Scientific Practice
• On Restricting the Evidence Base for Linguistics
• Emotion: Competing Theories and Philosopical Issues
• Simulation
• The Theoretical and Methodological Foundations of Cognitive Neuroscience
• Computational Neuroscience
• Psychopathology: Minding Mental Illness
• The Adaptive Programme of Evolutionary Psychology
• Situated Cognition
• Artificial Intelligence: History, Foundations, and Philosophical Issues
• Index

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This volume in the Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, ed. by D. M. Gabbay, P. Thagard, and J. Woods (2007), is not as massive or as comprehensive as Philosophy of Logic (CH, Sep'07, 45-0220), but covers a lot of ground. The title is misleading--it does not deal with psychology as the science of human behavior (including cognitive and verbal behavior), but restricts itself to what is now called cognitive science. But within those limitations it covers the basics through speculations about inner processes to the emotions, psychopathology, evolutionary psychology, and artificial intelligence. One questions certain things, e.g., the proposal that psychology does not explain by laws but by discovering mechanisms--surely those mechanisms work as they do only in conformity with certain laws. And why is so little attention paid to the issues surrounding intentionality? The study on "access consciousness" would have benefited from a reading of G. E. Moore's essay, "The Refutation of Idealism." In fact, a better knowledge of the history of psychology and of philosophy would have benefited several essays. Nevertheless, what this work does, it does quite well. Presentations are generally accessible, though some do get technical. Separate bibliographies are included for each chapter. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students and faculty/researchers. F. Wilson University of Toronto

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Dov M. Gabbay is Augustus De Morgan Professor Emeritus of Logic at the Group of Logic, Language and Computation, Department of Computer Science, King's College London. He has authored over four hundred and fifty research papers and over thirty research monographs. He is editor of several international Journals, and many reference works and Handbooks of Logic.