---
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.'
altloc: []
chapter: ~
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confdates: 'July 31 - August 4, 2000'
conference: 'ECHO IV (Emergence, Complexity, Hierarchy, Organisation) conference'
confloc: 'Odense, Denmark'
contact_email: ~
creators_id: []
creators_name:
  - family: Josephson
    given: Brian D.
    honourific: ''
    lineage: ''
date: 2000
date_type: published
datestamp: 2000-07-04
department: ~
dir: disk0/00/00/01/50
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eprintid: 150
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ispublished: unpub
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item_issues_count: 0
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item_issues_type: []
keywords: 'development, cognition, learning, agents, neural networks, modules, tools, paradigms, domain specificity, issue resolution, language.'
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:53:42
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metadata_visibility: show
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pubdom: FALSE
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reportno: ~
rev_number: 14
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source: ~
status_changed: 2007-09-12 16:24:23
subjects:
  - bio-theory
  - cog-psy
  - comp-sci-complex-theory
  - comp-sci-lang
  - comp-sci-mach-learn
  - comp-sci-neural-nets
  - dev-psy
  - evol-psy
  - ling-learn
  - ling-sem
  - ling-syntax
  - neuro-mod
  - neuro-psy
  - phil-lang
  - phil-mind
succeeds: ~
suggestions: ~
sword_depositor: ~
sword_slug: ~
thesistype: ~
title: Constructional Tools as the Origin of Cognitive Capacities
type: confpaper
userid: 196
volume: ~
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