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Psychology Cognitive Psychology

Coherence in Thought and Action

by (author) Paul Thagard

Publisher
MIT Press
Initial publish date
Jul 2002
Category
Cognitive Psychology

  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780262700924
    Publish Date
    Jul 2002
    List Price
    $54.00

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Description

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.

About the author

Paul Thagard is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Waterloo, Ontario. He is the author of The Cognitive Science of Science (MIT Press, 2012) and many other books.

Paul Thagard's profile page

Editorial Reviews

Coherence in Thought and Action is certainly a competing, and capable, candidate.—Metapsychology—

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