Fodor's The Modularity Of Mind And Its Thoughts Of Cognition

The thesis consists of four parts. They are respectively the theoretical origins of the modular theory, the modularity of input systems, the non-modularity of central systems, and the cognitive thoughts of the modular theory. I will probe Fodor's modularity from four aspects.In the first part, some basic features of the cognitive systems are generalized from Plato's horizontal faculty psychology, Gall's vertical faculty psychology, Neocartesianism's faculty psychology of the structure of knowledge, and associationism. These basic features are not only theoretical origins but also the key to understanding the modularity.The modular of input systems is the centre of the modularity of mind. In the second part, the psychological functions are divided into three classes such as transducers, input systems, and central systems, recounting the modular of input systems in detail. The modular of input systems is domain-specific computational systems characterized by informational encapsulation, restricted central access, and neural specificity (fixed neural architecture), and the computational processes, rapid and automatic, are guaranteed. The local computational mechanism is so best, reasonable that the transmitting of information, rapid and objective, is achieved in the condition that background belief is separated from input systems.Fodor concludes that in the non-modular central systems the central processes are isotropic, Quineian by analogy, namely is unencapsulation. The non-modular central processes that form the fixation of perception from all known information are non-local, global. It is the global processes that perform the higher psychological activity by integrating informational resources.In the last part, Mind-brain relation based on the token-token identity theory is the basis of cognitive essence. The token- token identity theory, known as functionalism in the cognitive philosophy, explains psychological state by the functional relation, not by the especially physical carrier, and forms a new path of probing psychological processes from the functional perspectives with the help of computers. The cognitive essence of the modularity is actually cognitivism .It is Fodor who poses the theoretical skeletons for cognitivism, computational theory and representational theory. Its significance lies in the fact that the explanation of human psychological activity is not the pure dialectical research, but a process imitated by computer programs. Finally, from the global of central processes, Fodor draws a conclusion that central processes are not fit for the object of scientific research.