Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

On the artificiality of artificial intelligence

  • Published:
Artificial Intelligence and Law Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this article the question is raised whether artificial intelligence has any psychological relevance, i.e. contributes to our knowledge of how the mind/brain works. It is argued that the psychological relevance of artificial intelligence of the symbolic kind is questionable as yet, since there is no indication that the brain structurally resembles or operates like a digital computer. However, artificial intelligence of the connectionist kind may have psychological relevance, not because the brain is a neural network, but because connectionist networks exhibit operating characteristics which mimic operant behavior. Finally it is concluded that, since most of the work done so far in ‘AI and Law’ is of the symbolic kind, it has as yet contributed little to our understanding of the legal mind.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Atkinson, R. C. & Shiffrin, R. M. 1968. Human Memory: A Proposed System and its Control Processes. InThe Psychology of Learning and Motivation: Advances in Research and Theory, Vol. 2. eds. K. W. Spence & J. T. Spence, 89–195. New York: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bechtel, W. & Abrahamson, A. 1991.Connectionism and the Mind: An Introduction to Parallel Processing in Networks. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Broadbent, D. E. 1958.Perception and Communication. London: Pergamon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchland, P. M. 1986.Neurophilosophy: Towards a Unified Understanding of the Mind/Brain. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Churchland, P. M. & Churchland, P.S. 1990. Could a Machine Think?Scientific American 262: 26–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Costall, A. 1991. Graceful Degradation: Cognitivism and the Metaphors of the Computer. InAgainst Cognitivism: Alternative Foundations for Cognitive Psychology, eds. A. Still & A. Costall. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crombag, H. F. M. 1989. Why (Legal) Rules often Fail to Control Human Behavior.Methodology and Science 22: 138–148.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dennett, D. C. 1992.Consciousness Explained. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Edelman, G. M. 1989.The Remembered Present: A Biological Theory of Consciousness. New York: Basic Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griffin, D. R. 1992.Animal Minds. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Luria, A. R. 1973.The Working Brain. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarty, L. T. 1990. Artificial Intelligence and Law: How to get there from here.Ratio Juris 3: 189–200.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, G. A. 1956. The Magical Number Seven, plus or Minus Two: Some Limits on our Capacity for Processing Information,Psychological Review 63: 81–97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Newell, A., Shaw, J. C. & Simon, H. A. 1958. Elements of a Theory of Human Problem Solving.Psychological Review 65: 151–166.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nisbett, R. & Ross, L. 1980.Human Inference: Strategies and Shortcomings in Social Judgement. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norman, D. A. 1986. Reflections on Cognition and Parallel Distributed Processing. InParallel Distributed Processing: Explorations in the Microstructure of Cognition. Volume 2: Psychological and Biological Models, eds. J.L. MacClelland, D. Rumelhart & the PDP Research Group, 531–546. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pylyshyn, Z. W. 1979. Methaphorical Imprecision and the ‘Top-Down’ Research Strategy. InMetaphor and Thought, ed. A. Ortony, 420–436. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Searle, J. 1984.Minds, Brains and Science. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sergot, M. 1991. The Representation of Law in Computer Programs. InKnowledge-Based Systems and legal Applications, ed. T. J. M. Bench-Capon, 3–67London:Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon, H. A. 1983.Reason in Human Affairs. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.

    Google Scholar 

  • Skinner, B. F. 1971.Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York: Alfred Knopf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Toda, M. 1982.Man, Robot and Society: Models and Speculations. Boston: Martinus Nijhoff.

    Google Scholar 

  • Young, J. Z. 1978.Programs of the Brain. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Law, University of Limburg, Maastricht

    Hans F. M. Crombag

Authors
  1. Hans F. M. Crombag
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Crombag, H.F.M. On the artificiality of artificial intelligence. Artif Intell Law 2, 39–49 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871746

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00871746

Key words

Search

Navigation