Supervenience and computational explanation in vision theory

Philosophy of Science 60 (1):86-99 (1993)
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Abstract

According to Marr's theory of vision, computational processes of early vision rely for their success on certain "natural constraints" in the physical environment. I examine the implications of this feature of Marr's theory for the question whether psychological states supervene on neural states. It is reasonable to hold that Marr's theory is nonindividualistic in that, given the role of natural constraints, distinct computational theories of the same neural processes may be justified in different environments. But to avoid trivializing computational explanations, theories must respect methodological solipsism in the sense that within a theory there cannot be differences in content without a corresponding difference in neural states

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Peter Alan Morton
Mount Royal University

Citations of this work

Computation, individuation, and the received view on representation.Mark Sprevak - 2010 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 41 (3):260-270.
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Content, Computation and Externalism.Christopher Peacocke - 1994 - Philosophical Issues 6:227-264.

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References found in this work

Vision.David Marr - 1982 - W. H. Freeman.
The meaning of 'meaning'.Hilary Putnam - 1975 - Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science 7:131-193.
Individualism and psychology.Tyler Burge - 1986 - Philosophical Review 95 (January):3-45.

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