Mystery and meaning: a reply to Green (2000).
In "George A. Miller, Language, and the Computer Metaphor of Mind" (see Note 1), I sought to explain how and why Miller invested the computer metaphor of mind with such strongly revolutionary, antibehaviorist meanings. In reply, Christopher Green (see Note 2) has argued that the answer to this question has to do with the importance of mental representation was an important issue to cognitivists. In response, I argue that, though mental representation was an important issue to cognitivists, there were several other factors of equal or greater importance: specifically, the fascination of Miller and his cohort with language and communication, their frustration with the narrowness of the disciplinary vision of the behaviorists, and their involvement in a different experimental program than that of mainstream behaviorists.
Crowther-Heyck
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Department of History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania, USA.
D001527:Behaviorism / Q000266:history*; D019336:Cognitive Science / Q000266:history*; D003201:Computers / Q000266:history*; D006663:Historiography; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007802:Language; D011584:Psychology / Q000266:history*