creators_name: Josephson, Brian D. type: confpaper datestamp: 2000-07-04 lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:42 metadata_visibility: show title: Constructional Tools as the Origin of Cognitive Capacities ispublished: unpub subjects: bio-theory subjects: cog-psy subjects: comp-sci-complex-theory subjects: comp-sci-lang subjects: comp-sci-mach-learn subjects: comp-sci-neural-nets subjects: dev-psy subjects: evol-psy subjects: ling-learn subjects: ling-sem subjects: ling-syntax subjects: neuro-mod subjects: neuro-psy subjects: phil-lang subjects: phil-mind full_text_status: public keywords: development, cognition, learning, agents, neural networks, modules, tools, paradigms, domain specificity, issue resolution, language. abstract: It is argued that cognitive capacities can be understood as the outcome of the collective action of a set of agents created by tools that explore possible behaviours and train the agents to behave in such appropriate ways as may be discovered. The coherence of the whole system is assured by a combination of vetting the performance of new agents and dealing appropriately with any faults that the whole system may develop. This picture is shown to account for a range of cognitive capacities, including language. date: 2000 date_type: published refereed: FALSE citation: Josephson, Brian D. (2000) Constructional Tools as the Origin of Cognitive Capacities. [Conference Paper] (Unpublished) document_url: http://cogprints.org/150/1/echo4.html document_url: http://cogprints.org/150/5/echo4.pdf