Rick Marken (971031.1450) said about Mary Power's post about Pinker's new
bok _How the Mind Works_:
This is an amazing coincidence. I was going to post about Pinker
today myself because there is a rather long and enthusiastic review
of Pinker's book in the New Yorker (Nov 3 issue; great cover!).
It's even more amazing than Rick imagined, since I have just finished a
draft of section of a chapter of my book in progress (_The Things We Do_)
which picks on Pinker and refers to the same "architect's lamp" passage.
This is actually a pretty rough first draft (in fact I have already made
some changes to my working file), but I couldn't resist letting CSGnetters
take a look (although I may change my mind later and will probably take it
off the server in a few days--MIT Press will probably try to get Pinker to
review my book manuscript, so this can get complicated). Perhaps it will
provide some ideas for the reviews and replies to reviews that Rick
mentioned we should do. Comments, of course, are welcome and probably best
sent directly to me.
This chapter will also review Skinner, Chomsky, Piaget, Dennett and
probably some others from the viewpoint of basic and extended Darwinism
(the first two lessons of biology for psychology) and perceptual control
theory (the third lesson).
Since I am now working on the Piaget section, I wonder if there are some
people out there who can help me relate Piaget's theories to PCT (I already
know how he fails with respect to Darwinism, remaining a Lamarckian all his
days). He used words like autoregulation and equilibrium in his work and
of course the process of accomodation and the transition from one cognitive
stage to another can be understood as a form of PCT re-organization, but I
wonder if he appreciated the purposeful nature of human behavior and
cognition and if he had any knowledge of cybernetics and related
developments. Pointing me to relevant references would be very much
appreciated and of course all help will be acknowledged in my book (just
imagine, instant fame!).
I have just finished a
draft of section of a chapter of my book in progress (_The Things We Do_)
which picks on Pinker and refers to the same "architect's lamp" passage.
Since I am now working on the Piaget section, I wonder if there are some
people out there who can help me relate Piaget's theories to PCT (I already
know how he fails with respect to Darwinism, remaining a Lamarckian all his
days).
Ernst von Glasersfeld wrote about Piaget and cybernetics quite a bit. I
can't give you any references, but the name (with or without the "von")
might get you somewhere.
For those who might be interested in richer fare than Pinker,
I highly recommend Robin Dunbar's _Grooming, Gossip,
and Evolution of Language_. Dunbar knows nothing of
control, needless to say, but he is concerned with evidence
(unlike some ). He presents his evidence and weighs it.
I am finding the book very rewarding and filled with grist for
the HPCT approach (Dunbar speaks in terms of a "theory
of mind" to account for intentionality and deception, but this
can readily be replaced by an HPCT approach). I have to
confess that I never could stick with Pinker long enough to
learn anything from him.
What was I thinking?? Even if I were able to write the most
skillfully conceived and constructed PCT - based critique of
Pinker's book, it wouldn't convert anyone to PCT. Heck, I
can't even write stuff that converts people to PCT who already
believe in it!!
Pinker's book must be getting attention because it is saying
something that people find interesting. It can't be Pinker's
writing. The stuff I read was OK but not even close to the
level of a Stephen Jay Gould, with whom Pinker seems to be in
a bit of a debate. Gould and Pinker seem equally middling in
their scientific acumen (like most evolutionary biologists
they don't seem to understand the difference between different
_models_ of evolution: natural selection, purposeful selection --
also known as PCT reorganization -- and inheritance of acquired
characteristics) but Gould is so much the better writer he
deserves to be published;-)
I have a feeling that what people find interesting in Pinker's
book is the evolutionary psychology aspect of it. I want to
know why? What does evolutionary psychology say that lay
people (the apparent target audience of this book) want to hear?
Gary Cziko (971102.0353 GMT)
I have just finished a draft of section of a chapter of my book
in progress (_The Things We Do_) which picks on Pinker and refers
to the same "architect's lamp" passage.
Great! I'll let you handle the Pinker picking while I go off
and do what I do best -- develop demos that no one does and
publish papers that no one reads;-)
By the way, I thought your book _The Things We Do_ (as it
existed at the time of my review) was really excellent; nice
work! If you can make it to the Vancouver meeting in '98
bring your guitar along; I'd be happy to sing a few verses
of "Control Theory Man" along with you.
Best
Elton Marken
···
----
Richard S. Marken Phone or Fax: 310 474-0313
Life Learning Associates e-mail: rmarken@earthlink.net http://home.earthlink.net/~rmarken/
). He presents his evidence and weighs it.