INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL ON HUMANISTIC IDEOLOGY
VOL. 3 NO. 1 SPRING-SUMMER 2010
TOPICS: KNOWLEDGE AND COGNITIVE SCIENCE
EDITORIAL: Mihaela GLIGOR, Knowledge and Cognitive Science. The Problem, 7
ARTICLES:
Nancy J. NERSESSIAN, Mental Modeling in Conceptual Change, 11
Abstract: In this paper I will focus on one capacity, that for mental modeling, in part because analogy, visualization, and simulation contribute to reasoning through mental modeling and in part because mental modeling is a central notion used in analyses of conceptual change across the literatures of studies of science, learning, and cognitive development.
Keywords: mental modeling, cognitive development, understanding, human cognition, cognitive science.
Amita CHATTERJEE, Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?, 49
Abstract: An unjustified criticism of dehumanizing human nature was raised with the advance of naturalist and cognitivist approaches to deciphering mental functioning. In reality, the “seed” of evil was sowed long before in the deep soil of analytical epistemology. A fresh way of looking at these approaches is proposed by “the new design argument” inspired by the concept of “situated knowledge” anticipated by Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty. The knowledge lost in the sea of knowledge is to intimately couple the brain, its body and the environment in which it is situated, reconceptualizing therefore the entire knowledge scenario.
Keywords: knowledge, information, naturalism, cognitivism, analytical epistemology, situated knowledge.
Ephraim NISSAN, Wearing the Badge of the Alliance vs. Having to Wear a Badge to Be Told Apart: Joseph Cazès in Teheran in 1898. Cognitive Analysis and Cultural Aspects, 59
Abstract: Episodic formulae are a notation from artificial intelligence, introduced by this author and applied thus far to various social narratives. In this article, we offer a taste of the analysis in formulae of a humanitarian case from 1898, with wider implications in social history: Cazès, the representative of a Parisian philanthropic educational institution was in Teheran just as a new clerical decree was forcing all members of a minority faith community to wear a badge so that they could be told apart and mistreated. Striving for the lesser evil, Cazès managed to have this commuted into that community wearing (hopefully in pride) the badge of his own organisation. Whereas this presentation will keep formulae to a minimum, we rather discuss the cultural context of the narrative, as well as the methodological context of the formal notation.
Keywords: cognitive states, history, humanitarian aid, faith schools, secularised education, discrimination, intercommunal relations, formalism.
Dana SUGU & Amita CHATTERJEE, Flashback: Reshuffling Emotions, 109
Abstract: Each affective state has distinct motor-expressions, sensory perceptions, autonomic, and cognitive patterns. Panksepp (1998) proposed seven neural affective systems of which the SEEKING system, a generalized approach-seeking system, motivates organisms to pursue resources needed for survival. When an organism is presented with a novel stimulus, the dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens septi (NAS) is released. The DA circuit outlines the generalized mesolimbic dopamine-centered SEEKING system and is especially responsive when there is an element of unpredictability in forthcoming rewards. We propose that when the outcome of this interaction is unexpected or unanticipated then Panksepp’s “cognitive or expectancy reset” mechanism involving the cognitive dissonance would yield the subjective emotion of surprise. In order to appropriately react to the environment’s stimuli one needs fundamental processes that would enable one to distinguish between what is novel and what has been already experienced, as well as the different degrees of novelty. Novel events are those whose essential features of the representation (visceral and perceptual) are altered and being discrepant provoke more sustained attention. Novelty arises from salient and arousing events and the organism experiences surprise, as coming out of a habitual state. In this framework, we shall look at established theories of emotions and propose a different approach to their taxonomy.
Keywords: habituation, change, novelty, arousal, taxonomy of affective processes, SEEKING system.
Mădălina SUCALĂ , Cognitive mechanisms involved in the subjective perception of time. A critical review, 135
Abstract: Timing is a crucial function necessary to adapt to ever changing environmental conditions. However, the subjective perception of time is not isomorphic to clock time and it can be affected by a number of factors. This article has the objective to review the main empirical findings in time perception literature and to summarize and offer a critical perspective on the current cognitive models of psychological time.
Keywords: subjective time perception, cognition, attention, memory.
Sharmistha DHAR, Affective Intuition and Rule Deployment:The Dénouement of Moral Judgment, 141
Abstract: What faculty of our mind is best suited to endow us with all that is required to carry forth our moral enterprise? In other words, what are the cognitive resources that subserve the moral mind? This is a core empirical question, raised much to the delight of the investigative inquisitiveness of the moral psychologists. But the philosophical connection to this problem can be traced back to as far in time as that of Plato the main tenet of whose tripartite theory of soul was that the rational element of the soul is like the charioteer who holds sway over his two horses – the manageable one, i.e. the spirited element and the unwieldy one, i.e. the vegetative, emotionally unruly element of the soul. And the era of reason-emotion debate begins, percolating into the field of moral beliefs that we inculcate and judgments that we pronounce. The mainstay of this short paper is a comparative analysis of two recently emerging theoretical frameworks claimed to be underlying moral judgments – one espoused by moral psychologist Jonathan Haidt claims that moral judgment is primarily elicited unconsciously by affect-driven intuition and the other put forward by philosopher Shaun Nichols attempts to highlight the conscious deliberation about moral rules. After critical analysis of both the views, this work suggests that a syncretic approach to the aetiological theorization about moral judgment may provide some silver lining.
Keywords: moral judgment, moral dilemma, moral dumbfounding, moral intuition, moral rule.
Ebrahim Oshni ALVANDI & Majeed Akbari DEHAGI, Cognitive Approach to Model-Based Sciences, 153
Abstract: Models are ideal structures and are constructed by the agents or model makers. A scientist as a model maker tries to research, describe and explain the nature and the world by different models. This paper, at first, pursues to distinguish the concept of model-based science and then explain the role of cognitive sciences in the formation of model-based sciences. Cognitive sciences pay attention to the human structural features and human cognitive processes which are important in model-based science. Meanwhile, as the “representation” is one of the features which has been discussed in cognitive sciences, the next steps of the paper is to concentrate on the role of representation in model-based sciences. Realism and rationality, considering representation, in model-based sciences are the last concepts which are scrutinized by the approach of cognitive sciences.
Keywords: cognitive sciences, model-based sciences, representation, reality and rationality.
Madhushree CHAKRABARTY & Amita CHATTERJEE, Assessment of Dyshyponoia in Multicultural Plurilingual Setup, 167
Abstract: Researches on language cognition has so far concentrated on the contribution of left hemisphere (or dominant hemisphere), grossly neglecting the role of right hemisphere. Very few studies have been made to explore in details the various communication disorders that result from right hemisphere lesion. One reason for this can be obviously traced to the difficulty in assessing or measuring the factors determining pragmatic incompetence (which are usually affected in RH lesion) compared to the structural components concerned with linguistic competence (which are usually impaired in LH lesion). In this paper we have made an attempt to discuss the communication disorders that result from RH lesion and some practical problems associated with such investigations.
Keywords: Dyshyponoia, Pragmatics, Context, Neurolinguistics, Cross-cultural.
Madhumita CHATTOPADHYAY, Nature of Cognition in the Philosophy of Bhartrhari: A Short Note, 181
Abstract: In the history of Indian philosophy Bhartrhari occupies a very distinguished position for relating grammar to philosophy and elaborating the language-philosophical ideas which were hinted at in the grammatical traditions of Pānini, Kātyāyana and Patañjali.
Keywords: Bhartrhari, Indian philosophy, linguistic, cognition, grammar
REVIEWS, 193
Mihaela GLIGOR: Zahi Hawass, Mountains of the Pharaohs. The Untold Story of the Pyramid Builders, Doubleday, a division of Random House, 2006, 213 pp, ISBN: 978-0-385-50305-1
Costica BRADATAN: Ingrid D. Rowland, Giordano Bruno. Philosopher/Heretic, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008, 352 pp., ISBN: 978-0-8090-9524-7
Mihaela GLIGOR: Costica Bradatan, Serguei Alex. Oushakine (Eds.), In Marx’s Shadow. Knowledge, Power and Intellectuals in Eastern Europe and Russia, Lexington Books, 2010, vi + 296 pp, ISBN: 978-0-7391-3624-9
CONTRIBUTORS, 199