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The Foundations of Cognitive Science

1 paper in the library · publishing 2001

Papers

How Not to Find the Neural Correlate of Consciousness

The Foundations of Cognitive Science July 26, 2001 Ned Block

The concept of H2O and the concept of water are two concepts of the same thing, as are temperature and mean molecular kinetic energy. Conversely, in the seventeenth century, the ambiguous phrase 'degree of heat' denoted two concepts with different referents: measuring by paraffin melting ranked heat source A hotter than B, while measuring by ice-melting rate ranked B hotter than A. Today we recognize the former measured temperature, the latter heat. Similarly, Aristotle used 'velocity' to mean both average and instantaneous velocity, and failing to distinguish them caused problems.