Coherence in Thought and Action

Coherence in Thought and Action - Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology

Paperback (02 Sep 2002)

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Publisher's Synopsis

This book is an essay on how people make sense of each other and the world they live in. Making sense is the activity of fitting something puzzling into a coherent pattern of mental representations that include concepts, beliefs, goals, and actions. Paul Thagard proposes a general theory of coherence as the satisfaction of multiple interacting constraints, and discusses the theory's numerous psychological and philosophical applications. Much of human cognition can be understood in terms of coherence as constraint satisfaction, and many of the central problems of philosophy can be given coherence-based solutions. Thagard shows how coherence can help to unify psychology and philosophy, particularly when addressing questions of epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, politics, and aesthetics. He also shows how coherence can integrate cognition and emotion.

Book information

ISBN: 9780262700924
Publisher: The MIT Press
Imprint: The MIT Press
Pub date:
Language: English
Number of pages: 330
Weight: 363g
Height: 197mm
Width: 127mm
Spine width: 19mm