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Article 1269 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: cbarber@bbn.com (Chris Barber)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Animal Intelligence vs Human Intelligence
Message-ID: <3873@papaya.bbn.com>
Date: 11 Nov 91 15:32:14 GMT
References: <37311@shamash.cdc.com> <1991Oct24.234823.7560@hilbert.cyprs.rain.com> <37443@shamash.cdc.com> <1991Oct31.235402.12739@hilbert.cyprs.rain.com> <37658@shamash.cdc.com> <1991Nov02.075827.27740kmc@netcom.COM> <37713@shamash.cdc.com> <1991Nov05.08
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In article <37802@shamash.cdc.com> map@svl.cdc.com (Mark Peters) writes:

>  Percept - The integration (by an organism's nervous system) of two or 
>            more sensations into a single mental unit.  The formation
>            of a percept is automatic, and it is the form in which an 
>            organism is aware of entities (as opposed to disconnected,
>            fleeting sensations.)
>
>  Concept - The mental integration of two or more percepts and/or
>            other concepts into a single mental unit.  The formation
>            of a concept is volitional, and proceeds on the basis
>            of observed similarities and differences between the
>            units subsumed by the concept.

I still think that these definitions are quite vague.  They depend upon
other terms whose meaning is not explained.  What is a "sensation"?
What does "single mental unit" mean?  In exactly what way can
sensations be put together into a percept?  Are percepts always
automatic?  Why would you form some percepts and not others?  What is
the difference between sensation when it is experienced and when it is
remembered?  What is "volitional", in fact, is there even such a thing
as volition?

I am not merely trying to be contrary here. Until we start to answer
these questions and many others, we are still arguing about an
arbitrary division of cognitive function which may have no basis in
real life.  Perhaps Mark has already answered all these questions to
his own satisfaction, but I think there is still too much room for
personal interpretation here.  




-- 
Christopher Barber
(cbarber@bbn.com)


