The Routledge Handbook of the Computational Mind

Computational approaches dominate contemporary cognitive science, promising a unified, scientific explanation of how the mind works. However, computational approaches raise major philosophical and scientific questions. In what sense is the mind computational? How do computational approaches explain perception, learning, and decision making? What kinds of challenges should computational approaches overcome to advance our understanding of mind, brain, and behaviour?

The Routledge Handbook of the Computational Mind is an outstanding overview and exploration of these issues and the first philosophical collection of its kind. Comprising thirty-five chapters by an international team of contributors from different disciplines, the Handbook is organised into four parts:

• History and future prospects of computational approaches
• Types of computational approach
• Foundations and challenges of computational approaches
• Applications to specific parts of psychology.

Essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of mind, philosophy of psychology, and philosophy of science, The Routledge Handbook of the Computational Mind will also be of interest to those studying computational models in related subjects such as psychology, neuroscience, and computer science.

Mark Sprevak is a Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh, UK. His book The Computational Mind is forthcoming from Routledge.

Matteo Colombo is an Assistant Professor at the Tilburg Center for Logic, Ethics, and Philosophy of Science, Tilburg University, The Netherlands; and a Humboldt Research Fellow at the Clinic for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charite University Clinic Berlin, Germany.