Filosoofia osakonna magistritööd – Master's theses

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Browsing Filosoofia osakonna magistritööd – Master's theses by Author "Cohnitz, Daniel, juhendaja"

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    Cognitive Penetrability of Perception in Predictive Brains
    (Tartu Ülikool, 2016) Vaus, Sander; Cohnitz, Daniel, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Filosoofiateaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Filosoofia osakond
    The debate over whether perception is cognitively penetrable, in order to remain philosophically interesting and relevant, should be unpacked in terms of discerning whether propositional states can directly modulate the low-level phenomenal features of one’s perceptual experience. For this, it should also engage with cognitive science, and it is by proposing a scientifically feasible mechanism of how cognitive penetrability could obtain that there is even a reason for considering it. The predictive coding model of perception provides a framework within which such a mechanism can be motivated. By framing perception as a process of probabilistic inference, wherein top-down models of the world are tested against bottom-up error signals, we can discern whether propositional attitudes could affect the inhibitory and excitatory signaling of sensory neurons in a way that either promotes or inhibits the top-down predictive model that constitutes one’s perceptual experience, all the while preserving the necessary kind of relation between perception and cognition. In a three dimensional variation of the Ebbinghaus illusion, this can in fact be shown to happen, establishing cognitive penetrability of perception and a working mechanism by which this could take place.
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    In Defence of Logical Omniscience
    (Tartu Ülikool, 2016) Lõbus, Indrek; Cohnitz, Daniel, juhendaja; Estrada González, Luis, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Filosoofiateaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Filosoofia osakond
    The most controversial consequence of Robert Stalnaker’s (1984) theory of propositional attitudes is that subjects of propositional attitudes are logically omniscient. What makes this consequence problematic is that it seems to conflict with the fact that subjects of propositional attitudes are also deductive reasoners. Stalnaker’s solution to this problem consists in two complementary theories. According to the metalinguistic theory, deductive information is metalinguistic, and according to the integration theory, deductive reasoning proceeds via integration of dispositions to act. In my thesis I will defend Stalnaker’s solution against two arguments, namely the translation argument (Moore 1995, Nuffer 2009) and the argument from logical oversight (Moore 1995, Jago 2014). In my responses I will rely on a Tractarian distinction between signs and symbols, showing that it brings out a similar flaw in both arguments. The flaw in the first is the assumption that the same sentence cannot be written in two different languages, and the flaw in the second is the assumption that two different logical connectives cannot be written in the same way. In my response to the first of these arguments, I will also develop a variation of Stalnaker’s metalinguistic theory that accounts for the sign/symbol distinction.
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    Ontology Identification Problem In Computational Agents
    (Tartu Ülikool, 2016) Pärnpuu, Rao; Cohnitz, Daniel, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Filosoofiateaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Filosoofia osakond
    The Ontology Identification Problem is the problem of connecting different ontologies to the system’s goals in such a way that a change in the system’s ontology does not result in a change in its goal’s effect. My thesis is that the Ontology Identification Problem, which has so far been addressed as a single universal problem, can be seen as an umbrella term for a wide range of different problems, each of which has a different level of difficulty, and each requires different methods of approach, in order to overcome. One wide category of this problem is connected to granularity, where the changes in the model are connected to changes in the level of detail. Granularity issues can be divided into cases of simpler reductions, multiple realizability and incommensurability. Another wide area of the problem is related to context. Contextual problems can be divided into problems of environmental context and social context. Special cases of warrantless goals and perverse instantiation also have a direct bearing on the ability to solve ontology identification problems effectively.
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    Testing intuitions about reference: what conclusions should be drawn from the experimental data?
    (Tartu Ülikool, 2014) Zeigo, Henri; Cohnitz, Daniel, juhendaja; Tartu Ülikool. Filosoofiateaduskond; Tartu Ülikool. Filosoofia osakond; Tartu Ülikool. Teoreetilise filosoofia õppetool
    In this thesis I am going to argue against the interpretation that experimental philosophers offered as an account of their empirical findings concerning philosophical intuitions about reference. Their empirical findings seem to exhibit that philosophers’ and folk intuitions are sensitive to various factors and that these sensitivities cause diversity in the intuitive responses within and between different people and cultures (Machery, Stich, Mallon, Nichols 2004). It has been noticed that Western people are more likely to show intuitive responses that can be associated with a causal-historical view of reference, while East Asians are inclined to show intuitive responses which are associated with a descriptivist view of reference. The experimental philosophers argue that if there is such diversity in intuitions we cannot be sure that our intuitions provide us with reliable data that is needed for theory choice in philosophy of language. This means that our intuitions cannot serve as a foundation for theories of reference.