Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 1999 - Volume 22, Issue 04  


Open Peer Commentary
Barsalou: Perpetual symbol systems

Modality and abstract concepts

Fred Adams a1 and Kenneth Campbell a2
a1 Department of Philosophy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 fa@udel.edu www.udel.edu/Philosophy/famain.html
a2 Department of Psychology, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 kencamp@udel.edu www.udel.edu/psych/fingerle/Kencamp.htm

Abstract

Our concerns fall into three areas: (1) Barsalou fails to make clear what simulators are (vs. what they do); (2) activation of perceptual areas of the brain during thought does not distinguish between the activation's being constitutive of concepts or a mere causal consequence (Barsalou needs the former); and (3) Barsalou's attempt to explain how modal symbols handle abstraction fails.