Chapter five states right off the bat that it deals with emergent properties and how they relate to cognitivism. Furthermore, the concept that the brain is an interconnected system, which is introduced at the beginning of this chapter, serves as the base to the future discussions. One of the theories presented based on this idea believe that the brain follows a set of rules and gradually makes the right connections to make the proper association. Although there is no unified formal theory of emergent properties, the name that was given to this line of research was, appropriately and ironically, connectionism. The theories that came from this study provided working models dealing with symbolic recognition and processing. However, the connectionist approach does not narrowly associate meaning with just a few symbols at the micro level; rather, it works on the much more general macro scale where it also adds recognition and learning to its concerns. This would mean that connectionism is in conflict with cognitivism, which has resisted looking at the greater scale.
Chapter seven opens with the distress and anxiety the notion of a representational system has caused researchers. However, there is hope in contemporary cognitive science. Thanks to priori and posteriori representations, cognitive science is able to safely discuss representation without having to deal with the shackles imposed by traditional ideas. This is further reinforced in this chapter with the claim that the role of the environment has receded whereas the role of the mind has taken center stage in the attempt to ultimately grasp. Even this change, though, can lead to frustration if it is taken to extreme lengths. Indeed, this chapter suggests combining the Buddhist middle route, the madhyamika as it is called, with mindfulness/awareness in an attempt to find a stable ego-self on the ultimate ground.
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