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TY - GEN ID - cogprints662 UR - http://cogprints.org/662/ A1 - Harnad, Stevan Y1 - 1982/// N2 - Behavioral scientists studied behavior; cognitive scientists study what generates behavior. Cognitive science is hence theoretical behaviorism (or behaviorism is experimental cognitivism). Behavior is data for a cognitive theorist. What counts as a theory of behavior? In this paper, a methodological constraint on theory construction -- "neoconstructivism" -- will be proposed (by analogy with constructivism in mathematics): Cognitive theory must be computable; given an encoding of the input to a behaving system, a theory must be able to compute (an encoding of) its outputs. It is a mistake to conclude, however, that this constraint requires cognitive theory to be computational, or that it follows from this that cognition is computation. PB - Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum KW - cognition KW - computation KW - computability KW - constructivism KW - theory TI - Neoconstructivism: A Unifying Constraint for the Cognitive Sciences SP - 1 AV - public EP - 11 ER -