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Theoria et Historia Scientiarum

There is Only One Mind/Body Problem
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  3. Vol. 8 No. 1 (2008): Concepts, categories, and analogy /
  4. Articles

There is Only One Mind/Body Problem

Authors

  • Stevan Harnad

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12775/ths.2008.001

Keywords

cognition, mind, body, consciousness, cognitive science, qualia

Abstract

In our century a Frege/Brentano wedge has gradually been driven into the mind/body problem so deeply that it appears to have split it into two: The problem of “qualia” and the problem of “intentionality.” Both problems use similar intuition pumps: For qualia, we imagine a robot that is indistinguishable from us in every objective respect, but it lacks subjective experiences; it is mindless. For intentionality, we again imagine a robot that is indistinguishable from us in every objective respect but its “thoughts” lack “aboutness”; they are meaningless. I will try to show that there is a way to re-unify the mind/body problem by grounding the “language of thought” (symbols) in our perceptual categorization capacity. The model is bottom-up and hybrid symbolic/nonsymbolic.

References

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Hamad, S. (1982) Neoconstructivism: A unifying theme for the cognitive sciences. In: Language, mind and brain (T. Simon & R. Scholes, eds., Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum), 1-11. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad82.neoconst.html

Harnad, S. (1982) Consciousness: An afterthought. Cognition and Brain Theory 5: 29-47. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~hamad/Papers/Harnad hamad82.consciousness.html

Harnad, S. (1984) Verifying machines’ minds. (Review of J. T. Culbertson, Consciousness: Natural and artificial, NY: Libra 1982.) Contemporary Psychology 29: 389-391.

Harnad, S. (1984) What are the scope and limits of radical behaviorist theory? Behavioral and Brain Sciences 7: 720-721.

Harnad, S. (ed.) (1987) Categorical Perception: The Groundwork of Cognition. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Harnad, S. (1987) The induction and representation of categories. In: Harnad 1987. http:/www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/ harnad87.categorization.html

Harnad, S. (1989) Minds, Machines and Searle. Journal of Theoretical and Experimental Artificial Intelligence 1: 5-25. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~hamad/Papers/Hamad/ harnad89.searle.html

Harnad, S. (1990) The Symbol Grounding Problem. Physica D 42: 335-346. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad90.sgproblem.html

Harnad, S. (1990) Against Computational Hermeneutics. (Invited commentary on Eric Dietrich’s Computationalism) Social Epistemology 4: 167-172. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad90.dietrich.crit.html

Harnad, S. (1990) Lost in the hermeneutic hall of mirrors. Invited Commentary on: Michael Dyer: Minds, Machines, Searle and Harnad. Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 2: 321 - 327. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/ ~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad90. dyer.crit.html

Harnad, S. (1990) Symbols and Nets: Cooperation vs. Competition. Review of: S. Pinker and J. Mehler (Eds.) (1988) Connections and Symbols Connection Science 2: 257- 260.

Harnad, S. (1991) Other bodies, Other minds: A machine incarnation of an old philosophical problem. Minds and Machines 1: 43-54. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/ ~harnad/Papers/Hamad/harnad9 l.otherminds.html

Harnad, S., Hanson, S.J. & Lubin, J. (1991) Categorical Perception and the Evolution of Supervised Learning in Neural Nets. Presented at Symposium on Symbol Grounding: Problems and Practice, Stanford University, March 1991 In: Proceedings of the AAAI Spring Symposium on Machine Learning of Natural Language and Ontology (DW Powers & L Reeker, Eds.) Document D91-09, Deutsches Forschungszentrum fur Kuenstliche Intelligenz GmbH Kaiserslautern FRG, pp. 65-74. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/hamad91 .cpnets.html

Harnad, S. (1992) Connecting Object to Symbol in Modeling Cognition. In: A. Clark and R. Lutz (Eds) Connectionism in Context Springer Verlag, pp 75 - 90. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad92.symbol.object.html

Harnad, S. (1992) The Turing Test Is Not A Trick: Turing Indistinguishability Is A Scientific Criterion. SIGART Bulletin 3(4) (October) 9-10. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad92.turing.html

Hayes, P, Harnad, S., Perlis, D. & Block, N. (1992) Virtual Symposium on Virtual Mind. Minds and Machines 2: 217-238. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/ harnad92.virtualmind.html

Harnad, S. (1993) Grounding Symbols in the Analog World with Neural Nets. Think 2(1) 12-78 (Special issue on “Connectionism versus Symbolism,” D.M.W. Powers & P.A. Flach, eds.). [Also reprinted in French translation as: “L’Ancrage des Symboles dans le Monde Analogique a l’aide de Reseaux Neuronaux: un Modele Hybride.” In: Rialle V. et Payette D. (Eds) La Modelisation. LEKTON, Vol IV, No 2.] http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad93.symb.anal.net.html http:/ /cwis.kub.nl/~fdl/research/ti/docs/think/2-l/index.stm

Harnad, S. (1993) Artificial Life: Synthetic Versus Virtual. Artificial Life III. Proceedings, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity. Volume XVI. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad93.artlife.html

Harnad, S. (1993) Symbol Grounding is an Empirical Problem: Neural Nets are Just a Candidate Component. Proceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society. NJ: Erlbaum http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/ Papers/Harnad/harnad93.cogsci.html

Harnad, S. (1993) Problems, Problems: The Frame Problem as a Symptom of the Symbol Grounding Problem. PSYCOLOQUY 4(34) frame-problem. 11 http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad93.frameproblem.html http:/ /www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/cgi/psyc/newpsy?4.34

Harnad, S. (1993) Exorcizing the Ghost of Mental Imagery. Commentary on: JI Glasgow: „The Imagery Debate Revisited.” Computational Intelligence 9(4) 309-333. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad93.imagery.html

Harnad S. (1993) Discussion (passim) In: Bock, G.R. & Marsh, J. (Eds.) Experimental and Theoretical Studies of Consciousness. CIBA Foundation Symposium 174. Chichester: Wiley

Harnad, S. (1994) Levels of Functional Equivalence in Reverse Bioengineering: The Darwinian Turing Test for Artificial Life. Artificial Life 1(3): 293-301. Reprinted in: C.G. Langton (Ed.). Artifial Life: An Overview. MIT Press 1995. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad94.artlife2.html

Harnad S, (1994) The Convergence Argument in Mind-Modelling: Scaling Up from Toyland to the Total Turing Test. Cognoscenti 1:

Harnad, S. (1994) Computation Is Just Interpretable Symbol Manipulation: Cognition Isn’t. Special Issue on “What Is Computation” Minds and Machines 4:379-390 [Also appears in French translation in “Penser f Esprit: Des Sciences de la Cognition a une Philosophie Cognitive,” V. Rialle & D. Fisette, Eds. Presses Universite de Grenoble. 1996] http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/hamad95.compulation.cognition.html

Harnad, S, (1995) Does the Mind Piggy-Back on Robotic and Symbolic Capacity? In: H. Morowitz (ed.) “The Mind, the Brain, and Complex Adaptive Systems.” Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity. Volume XXII. P. 204-220. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad95.mind.robot.html

Harnad, S. (1995) Grounding Symbolic Capacity in Robotic Capacity. In: Steels, L. and R. Brooks (eds.) The Artificial Life Route to Artificial Intelligence: Building Embodied Situated Agents. New Haven: Lawrence Erlbaum. Pp. 277-286. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad95.robot.html

Harnad, S. Hanson, S.J. & Lubin, J. (1995) Learned Categorical Perception in Neural Nets: Implications for Symbol Grounding. In: V. Honavar & L. Uhr (eds) Symbol Processors and Connectionist Network Models in Artificial Intelligence and Cognitive Modelling: Steps Toward Principled Integration.

Academic Press, pp. 191-206. http:/ /www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad95.cpnets.html

Harnad, S. (1995) Why and How We Are Not Zombies. Journal of Consciousness Studies 1: 164-167.

http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad95.zombies.html

Harnad, S. (1995) The Warp Factor. Guardian (OnLine: OffLine) Thursday February 23

P. 11. http://cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/whorf.html

Harnad, S. (1995) Grounding symbols in sensorimotor categories with neural networks. In: IEE Colloquium “Grounding Representations: Integration of Sensory Information in Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence and Neural Networks” (Digest No. 1995/103).

http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/ harnad95.iee.html

Harnad, S. (1995) What Thoughts Are Made Of. Nature 378: 455-456. Book Review of: Churchland, PM. (1995) The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey into the Brain (MIT Press) and Greenfield, SA (1995) Journey to the Centers of the Mind. (Freeman) Nature (1995) http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/ Harnad/harnad95. churchland.bookrev.html

Harnad, S. (1996) The Origin of Words: A Psychophysical Hypothesis In Velichkovsky B & Rumbaugh, D. (Eds.) “Communicating Meaning: Evolution and Development of Language. NJ: Erlbaum: pp 27-44. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~hamad/Papers/ Harnad/harnad96. word.origin.html

Hamad, S. (1996) Experimental Analysis of Naming Behavior Cannot Explain Naming Capacity. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior 65: 262-264. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad96.naming.html

Harnad, S. (1996) What to Do About Feelings? [Published as “Conscious Ecumenism” Review of PSYCHE: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Consciousness] Times Higher Education Supplement. June 7 1996, P. 29. http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad96.feelings.html

Cangelosi, A., Greco, A. & Harnad, S. (1996) Categorical perception effects in connectionist models. Proceedings of the Annual Conference of the Italian Psychological Association. Experimental Psychology Section. Capri, 30 September

Greco, A., Cangelosi, A. & Harnad, S. (1997) A connectionist model of categorical perception and symbol grounding. Proceedings of the 15th Annual Workshop of the European Society for the Study of Cognitive Systems. Freiburg (D). January 1997: 7.

Harnad, S. (1997) “Lively Flights of Fancy.” Book review of M. Boden (ed.) “The Philosophy of Artificial Life.” Blackwell. Times Higher Education Supplement. January 31, 1997 http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/ harnad97.thes.alife.html

Pevtzow, R. & Harnad, S. (1997) Warping Similarity Space in Category Learning by Human Subjects: The Role of Task Difficulty. In: Ramscar, M., Hahn, U., Cambouropolos, E. & Pain, H. (Eds.) Proceedings of SimCat 1997: Interdisciplinary Workshop on Similarity and Categorization. Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University: 189 - 195. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/ Harnad/pevtzow97.textures.html

Tijsseling, A. & Harnad, S. (1997) Warping Similarity Space in Category Learning by Backprop Nets. In: Ramscar, M., Hahn, U., Cambouropolos, E. & Pain, H. (Eds.) Proceedings of SimCat 1997: Interdisciplinary Workshop on Similarity and Categorization. Department of Artificial Intelligence, Edinburgh University: 263- -269. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/tijsseling97.cpnets.html

Andrews, J., Livingston, K. & Harnad, S. (1998). Categorical Perception Effects Induced by Category Learning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/

Harnad, S. (1998) Turing Indistinguishability and the Blind Watchmaker. In: Mulhauser, G. (ed.) “Evolving Consciousness” Amsterdam: John Benjamins (in press) http:// www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/harnad98.turing.evol.html

Harnad, S. (1998) Beyond Object Constancy. Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) Seminar on “Self-Learning Robots II: Bio-Robotics” (Digest 98/248: 2/1-2/3) http:/ /www.cogsci. soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Hamad/harnad98. iee.embodiment.html

Greco, A., Cangelosi, A., & Harnad, S. (1998) A Connectionist Model for Categorical Perception and Symbol Grounding.

Harnad, S. (1998) Hardships of Cognitive Science. Review of J. Shear (Ed.) Explaining Consciousness (MIT/Bradford 1997) Trends in Cognitive Sciences (in press)

Csato, L., Kovacs, G, Harnad, S. Pevtzow, R & Lorincz, A. (submitted) Category Learning, Categorisation Difficulty and Categorical Perception: Compututational Modules and behavioural Evidence. Connection Science.

Greco, A., Cangelosi, A., & Harnad, S. (in prep.) A Connectionist Model for Categorical Perception and Symbol Grounding.

Cangelosi, A & Harnad, S. (in prep) On the Virtues of Theft Over Honest Toil: Grounding Language and Thought in Sensorimotor Categories: Grounding Language and thought in Senosimotor Categories. http://www.cogsci.soton.ac.uk/~harnad/Papers/Harnad/ harnad96.1anguage.theft.html

Harnad, S. (in prep) From Praxis to Pantomime to Propositions: Communicative Continuum or Cognitive Hurdles? (Proceedings of the Language Origins Society)

Hamad, S. (in preparation) Icon, Category, Symbol: Essays on the Foundations and Fringes of Cognition. Cambridge University Press.

Theoria et Historia Scientiarum

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2008-01-02

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HARNAD, Stevan. There is Only One Mind/Body Problem. Theoria et Historia Scientiarum. Online. 2 January 2008. Vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 5-16. [Accessed 4 July 2025]. DOI 10.12775/ths.2008.001.
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