creators_name: Sloman, Aaron
editors_name: Glasgow, Janice
editors_name: Narayanan, Hari
editors_name: Chandrasekaran, 
type: bookchapter
datestamp: 1998-06-22
lastmod: 2011-03-11 08:54:12
metadata_visibility: show
title: Musings on the roles of logical and non-logical representations in intelligence
ispublished: pub
subjects: cog-psy
subjects: comp-sci-art-intel
subjects: comp-sci-neural-nets
subjects: ling-prag
subjects: ling-sem
subjects: ling-syntax
subjects: phil-epist
subjects: phil-lang
subjects: phil-logic
subjects: phil-metaphys
subjects: phil-mind
subjects: phil-sci
full_text_status: public
abstract: This paper offers a short and biased overview of the history of discussion and controversy about the role of different forms of representation in intelligent agents. It repeats and extends some of the criticisms of the `logicist' approach to AI that I first made in 1971, while also defending logic for its power and generality. It identifies some common confusions regarding the role of visual or diagrammatic reasoning including confusions based on the fact that different forms of representation may be used at different levels in an implementation hierarchy. This is contrasted with the way in the use of one form of representation (e.g. pictures) can be {\em controlled} using another (e.g. logic, or programs). Finally some questions are asked about the role of metrical information in biological visual systems.
date: 1995
date_type: published
publication: Diagrammatic Reasoning: Computational and Cognitive Perspectives
publisher: AAAI Press
pagerange: 7-33
refereed: FALSE
citation:   Sloman, Aaron  (1995) Musings on the roles of logical and non-logical representations in intelligence.  [Book Chapter]     
document_url: http://cogprints.org/706/2/Aaron.Sloman_musings.ps