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People are minded creatures; we have thoughts, feelings and emotions. More intriguingly, we grasp our own mental states, and conduct the business of ascribing them to ourselves and others without instruction in formal psychology. How do we do this? And what are the dimensions of our grasp of
the mental realm? In this book, Alvin I. Goldman explores these questions with the tools of philosophy, developmental psychology, social psychology and cognitive neuroscience. He refines an approach called simulation theory, which starts from the familiar idea that we understand others by putting
ourselves in their mental shoes. Can this intuitive idea be rendered precise in a philosophically respectable manner, without allowing simulation to collapse into theorizing? Given a suitable definition, do empirical results support the notion that minds literally create (or attempt to create)
surrogates of other peoples mental states in the process of mindreading? Goldman amasses a surprising array of evidence from psychology and neuroscience that supports this hypothesis.
Alvin I. Goldman is Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University.
Show morePeople are minded creatures; we have thoughts, feelings and emotions. More intriguingly, we grasp our own mental states, and conduct the business of ascribing them to ourselves and others without instruction in formal psychology. How do we do this? And what are the dimensions of our grasp of
the mental realm? In this book, Alvin I. Goldman explores these questions with the tools of philosophy, developmental psychology, social psychology and cognitive neuroscience. He refines an approach called simulation theory, which starts from the familiar idea that we understand others by putting
ourselves in their mental shoes. Can this intuitive idea be rendered precise in a philosophically respectable manner, without allowing simulation to collapse into theorizing? Given a suitable definition, do empirical results support the notion that minds literally create (or attempt to create)
surrogates of other peoples mental states in the process of mindreading? Goldman amasses a surprising array of evidence from psychology and neuroscience that supports this hypothesis.
Alvin I. Goldman is Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University.
Show moreAlvin I. Goldman is Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University.
"Simulating Minds is an impressive achievement. It combines rich
scholarship with clear, lively, and original argument to give us by
far the best and most comprehensive defense of the simulation
theory perspective that has been produced to date. Goldman's book
is essential reading for all philosophers and empirical researchers
interested in mindreading."--Stephen Stich, Rutgers University
"Alvin Goldman's Simulating Minds provides a superb and
thought-provoking account of mind reading. Simulating Minds bridges
philosophy of mind, psychology, and neuroscience, combining
scholarly depth with a brilliant style. This is not only the
definitive book on simulation theory but also a must-read for all
people interested in knowing more about what it means to be
human."--Vittorio Gallese, Universita' di Parma
"Alvin Goldman is a distinguished epistemologist. For several years
he has also been one of the leading advocates of the simulation
theory of human mindreading. Goldman's approach is hybrid and
highly interdisciplinary. It gives a central, though by no means
exclusive, role to mental simulation. Goldman makes sense of an
impressive amount of empirical evidence from cognitive
neuroscience, developmental psychology, and social psychology. This
evidence enables
him to make a convincing case for the importance of mental
simulation in both low-level and high-level tasks of third-person
mindreading. In addition, Goldman offers his own account of
first-person
mindreading. This book has been awaited for some time: it
brilliantly illustrates how a philosopher can contribute to an area
that is currently subjected to much cognitive scientific
investigation by sharpening the basic concepts involved." --Pierre
Jacob, Institut Jean Nicod, CNRS, Paris
"This impressive book is sufficiently clear and accessible to serve
as an introduction to simulation theory yet is full of new ideas.
It is very clearly the work of a philosopher yet provides an
extraordinarily informative guide to the relevant literature in
cognitive science and neuroscience. Indeed, for everyone who is
interested in our ability to understand each other as minded
creatures, Simulating Minds is essential reading."--Martin Davies,
Wilde
Professor of Mental Philosophy, University of Oxford
"This superb book richly displays Goldman's virtues as a
philosopher--it's clear, engaging, philosophically sensitive, and
scrupulously well-informed about the science. It is also the most
powerful statement of simulation theory to date."--Shaun Nichols,
University of Arizona
"Simulating Minds is an impressive achievement. It combines rich
scholarship with clear, lively, and original argument to give us by
far the best and most comprehensive defense of the simulation
theory perspective that has been produced to date. Goldman's book
is essential reading for all philosophers and empirical researchers
interested in mindreading."--Stephen Stich, Rutgers University
"Alvin Goldman's Simulating Minds provides a superb and
thought-provoking account of mind reading. Simulating Minds bridges
philosophy of mind, psychology, and neuroscience, combining
scholarly depth with a brilliant style. This is not only the
definitive book on simulation theory but also a must-read for all
people interested in knowing more about what it means to be
human."--Vittorio Gallese, Universita' di Parma
"Alvin Goldman is a distinguished epistemologist. For several years
he has also been one of the leading advocates of the simulation
theory of human mindreading. Goldman's approach is hybrid and
highly interdisciplinary. It gives a central, though by no means
exclusive, role to mental simulation. Goldman makes sense of an
impressive amount of empirical evidence from cognitive
neuroscience, developmental psychology, and social psychology. This
evidence enables
him to make a convincing case for the importance of mental
simulation in both low-level and high-level tasks of third-person
mindreading. In addition, Goldman offers his own account of
first-person
mindreading. This book has been awaited for some time: it
brilliantly illustrates how a philosopher can contribute to an area
that is currently subjected to much cognitive scientific
investigation by sharpening the basic concepts involved." --Pierre
Jacob, Institut Jean Nicod, CNRS, Paris
"This impressive book is sufficiently clear and accessible to serve
as an introduction to simulation theory yet is full of new ideas.
It is very clearly the work of a philosopher yet provides an
extraordinarily informative guide to the relevant literature in
cognitive science and neuroscience. Indeed, for everyone who is
interested in our ability to understand each other as minded
creatures, Simulating Minds is essential reading."--Martin Davies,
Wilde
Professor of Mental Philosophy, University of Oxford
"This superb book richly displays Goldman's virtues as a
philosopher--it's clear, engaging, philosophically sensitive, and
scrupulously well-informed about the science. It is also the most
powerful statement of simulation theory to date."--Shaun Nichols,
University of Arizona
"Goldman's knowledge and drawing together of the field is
impressive and there is certainly a great deal to be learned from
this book..."--Minds & Machines
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