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“Very like a whale”: Analogies about the mind need salient similarity to convey information

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 October 2010

David Spurrett  and
Jeffrey Martin
David Spurrett
Affiliation:
School of Philosophy and Ethics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa. spurrett@ukzn.ac.zadrcogsci@gmail.comhttp://ukzn.academia.edu/DavidSpurretthttp://ukzn.academia.edu/JeffMartin
Jeffrey Martin
Affiliation:
School of Philosophy and Ethics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 4041, South Africa. spurrett@ukzn.ac.zadrcogsci@gmail.comhttp://ukzn.academia.edu/DavidSpurretthttp://ukzn.academia.edu/JeffMartin
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Abstract

Knobe relies on unhelpful analogies in stating his main thesis about the mind. It isn't clear what saying the mind works, or doesn't work, “like a modern university” or “a scientific investigation” means. We suggest he should say that some think that human cognition respects a ban on fallacies of relevance, where considerations actually irrelevant to truth are taken as evidence. His research shows that no such ban is respected.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 33 , Issue 4 , August 2010 , pp. 350 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

Thorndike, E. L. (1920) A constant error in psychological rating. Journal of Applied Psychology 4:25–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar