Abstract
Cognitive science is a new paradigm that informs and involves several disciplines, including artificial intelligence, neuroscience, cognitive psychology, cognitive ethology, and the philosophy of mind. Cognitive science studies the mind as an information processor, with the computer often operating as a metaphor for the operations of the mind. Developments in the cognitive sciences stand to affect tremendously how we think of the mind and, consequently, how we think of theological and religious claims that concern the human subject. The unity of self, claims of human uniqueness, the relation of mind and body, human nature, and the personal agency of God are all areas of religious import in which the cognitive sciences need to be taken into account.
Keywords
cognitive psychology, information processing, artificial intelligence, human nature, cognitive ethology, human uniqueness, neuroscience, mind of God, cognitive science, mind‐body problem, unity of self, philosophy of mind
How to Cite
Peterson, G., (1997) “Cognitive Science: What One Needs to Know”, Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 32(4), 615–627. doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/0591-2385.00115