petersja@debussy.cs.colostate.edu (james peterson) (04/13/90)
I would like to solicit suggestions from any and all who have textbook recommendations for a beginning course in cognitive science. I am team-teaching a course with the chair of the philosophy dept. here for the second time this coming fall. The first time through we used Haugeland's *AI: The Very Idea* as an introduction to the subject, and then read articles from his *Mind Design* anthology, plus articles we had copied on an ad hoc basis. I would like to see an introduction to the subject as detailed as AI:TVI but a little more balanced. Haugeland's adherence to the classical paradigm, with little or no mention of the connectionist contribution to the subject, tends to leave students with the wrong impression. Moreover, we found, for similar reasons, that we used only a small proportion of the articles in the mind design anthology. What I would like to see is an introduction which is as detailed as Haugeland's text, but which introduces both approaches as well as the debate now raging between classicists and connectionists. Any one who is teaching a similar course, or who might offer us suggestions, is invited to respond by e-mail as soon as possible. I appreciate in advance any help you might give.... james lee peterson petersja@handel.cs.colostate.edu dept. of computer science colorado state university "Some ignorance is invincible." ft. collins, colorado 80523
aarons@syma.sussex.ac.uk (Aaron Sloman) (04/14/90)
petersja@debussy.cs.colostate.edu (james peterson) writes: > Date: 13 Apr 90 16:58:10 GMT > Organization: Colorado State University ...... > I would like to solicit suggestions from any and all who have textbook > recommendations for a beginning course in cognitive science. ...... > I would like to see an introduction to the subject as detailed as AI:TVI > but a little more balanced. ..... > What I would like to see is an introduction which is as detailed as Haugeland's > text, but which introduces both approaches as well as the debate now raging > between classicists and connectionists. There is a book that arose out of our teaching AI to beginners in the School of Cognitive and Computing sciences at Sussex, where we have active teaching and research in both connectionist and non-connectionist AI. The book is Sharples, M. Hogg, D. Hutchison,C. Torrance,S, Young,D. Computers and Thought: a practical introduction to Artificial Intelligence MIT Press 1989. It introduces various areas of AI mainly from the point of view of cognitive science (as opposed to engineering). It includes illustrations of AI techniques using Pop-11, a lisp-like language with a more readable pascal-like syntax. Aaron Sloman