Schulz, Armin (2008) Structural flaws: massive modularity and the argument from design. The British journal for the philosophy of science, 59 (4). pp. 733-743. ISSN 1464-3537
Abstract
The ‘argument from design’ plays a pivotal role in Carruthers’ recent defence of the massive modularity thesis. However, as this paper seeks to show, there are major flaws in its structure. If construed deductively, it is unsound: modular mental architecture is not necessarily the best architecture, and even if it were, this alone would not show that this architecture evolved. If construed inductively, it is not much more convincing, as it then appears to be too weak to support the kind of modularity Carruthers is concerned with. The upshot of this is that whatever reason we might have for believing that the mind is massively modular, it is not based on the argument from design.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Official URL: | http://bjps.oxfordjournals.org/ |
| Additional Information: | © 2008 The Author |
| Library of Congress subject classification: | B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > B Philosophy (General) |
| Sets: | Departments > Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method |
| Rights: | http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/rights/LSERO.htm |
| URL: | http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/31785/ |
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