ABSTRACT
Philosophy.—Cognitivism is a classic paradigm in cognitive science and can be defined as a combination of the functionalist and computationalrepresentational theses (→COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS, FUNCTIONALISM, REPRESENTATION). It acknowledges the existence of mental states, each of which is identical to a physical state (→PHYSICALISM). However, the type of a mental state is determined by its functional role, that is, by its causal relations with other mental states, stimuli, and behaviors (→CAUSALITY AND MENTAL CAUSATION).
