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The Modularity of Mind
Abstract
This study synthesizes current information from the various fields of cognitive science in support of a new and exciting theory of mind. Most psychologists study horizontal processes like memory and information flow; Fodor postulates a vertical and modular psychological organization underlying biologically coherent behaviors. This view of mental architecture is consistent with the historical tradition of faculty psychology while integrating a computational approach to mental processes. One of the most notable aspects of Fodor's work is that it articulates features not only of speculative cognitive architectures but also of current research in artificial intelligence. Bradford Books imprint
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“This contrasts with classical views that treat perception as a passive internal process in which the brain receives sensory input, processes it, and issues commands for action.”
From Toward Enactive Artificial Intelligence (2026) · cites this paper as Fodor, 1983
In the citing paper
“Enactive perspectives contrast with classical representationalist views, in which perception is framed as a passive process where sensory input is transmitted through the body's sensory apparatus and transformed into internal representations of the world.”
From Toward Enactive Artificial Intelligence (2026) · cites this paper as Fodor, 1983
In the citing paper
“which implies that phenomenal transparency-opacity is ‘cognitively impenetrable’”
From 'Seeing the Dark': Grounding Phenomenal Transparency and Opacity in Precision Estimation for Active Inference (2018) · cites this paper as Fodor, 1983
In the citing paper
“In other words, in contrast with earlier proposals, Gauthier and colleagues have emphasized a domain-general, but process-specific, understanding of FFA activity (for an extended discussion of domain-general vs. domain-specific cognitive processing, see Fodor 1983).”
From Activity in Right Temporo-Parietal Junction is Not Selective for Theory-of-Mind (2008) · cites this paper as Fodor 1983
In the citing paper
“Such models are thus ultimately functionalist in nature; particular behaviours are explained by appeal to a revision of modality-specific prediction errors, as computed by encapsulated, physically localized brain modules, without specifying a particular computational implementation (Fodor 1983).”
From From cognitivism to autopoiesis: towards a computational framework for the embodied mind (2018) · cites this paper as Fodor 1983
In the citing paper
“Our findings suggest that the effect of social and ecological complexity may be limited to influencing more specialized, and potentially domain-specific forms of cognition (188-196).”
From The evolution of self-control. (2014) · cites this paper as [191]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Fodor, J. A.
- Corresponding author
- Fodor, Jerry A.
- Venue
- The MIT Press eBooks
- Publisher
- The MIT Press
- Published
- 1983-04-06
- OpenAlex
- W2888882506
- Cited by
- 7,734
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 232 · 2025: 241 · 2024: 224 · 2023: 181 · 2022: 186 · 2021: 192 · 2020: 252 · 2019: 402 · 2018: 243 · 2017: 205 · 2016: 180 · 2015: 196 · 2014: 256 · 2013: 181 · 2012: 178
- FWCI
- 87.69
- Type
- book
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The MIT Press eBooks (publishedVersion)
- UCLA - Biblioteca de Ciencias y Tecnologia Felix Morales Bueno (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Philosophy and Theoretical Science
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Cognitive Science and Education Research
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Psychiatry, Mental Health, Neuroscience
- Keywords
- modularity of mind, Jerry Fodor, theory of mind, cognitive architecture, faculty psychology, computational theory of mind, artificial intelligence, cognitive processes
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Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
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