Product Description

In March 1946, some of the greatest minds of the 20th century - among them John von Neumann, Norbert Wiener, Warren McCulloch, and Walter Pitts - gathered at the Beekman Hotel in Ney York City with the aim of constructing a science of mental behaviour that would resolve at last the ancient philosophical problem of mind and matter. The legacy of the collaboration is known today as cognitive science. Jean-Pierre Dupuy, one of the principal architects of cognitive science in France, reconstructs the early days of the field here in a combination of philosophy, science, and historical detective work. He shows us how the ambitious and innovative ideas developed in the wake of that New York meeting prefigured some of the most important developments of late-20th-century thought. Many scholars, however, shunned the ideas as crude and resented them for being overpromoted. This rejection, Dupuy argues, was a tragic mistake and a lost opportunity. As Dupuy explains, the founders of cognitive science - or, as they called it, "cybernetics" - drew passion and energy from two convictions: that the mind operates like a machine and that physical laws explain how nature can appear to have meaning. Ar

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #921683 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-04
• Original language: French
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 240 pages

Review
[An] elegant and lucid work... A superb example of detective work in the history of ideas. -- Steven Poole The Guardian A healthy prescription for those engaged in advancing theories of cognition. -- igor Aleksander New Scientist A history, a map through tortuous scientific terrain, a high-level user's manual, and a gripping tale. -- Rodney M. J. Cotterill American Journal of Psychology

Steven Poole, The Guardian
[An] elegant and lucid work. . . . A superb example of detective work in the history of ideas.

igor Aleksander, New Scientist
A healthy prescription for those engaged in advancing theories of cognition.