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Written by Ricardo Sanz
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Thursday, 06 November 2008 |
A New Journal
It is our great pleasure to invite you to join us in a project to create a new scientific publication: The Journal of Mind Theory.
The focus of this new scientific journal will be the consolidation of formal theories of mind. In this time of easy publication and overwhelming information on the brain, robotics and artificial intelligence, we strive for the precision, clarity that formal languages convey.
Motivation
We all realise that the number of publications in the field of cognitive science
is continuously growing. This makes the task of getting a state-of-the-art
picture of the field an impossible task for any normal human.
| We feel the need for simplification and focusing. We believe that the pursuit
of the ultimate understanding of mind shall be easier if we are able to get rid
of the decorative literature. While that kind of text usually embellishes
the many insights on the nature of mind, a narrower focus on the very core
issues is absolutely necessary. Succinctness becomes a major target.
Hence, in the old way of the hard sciences, we strive for terse formalisations
that will minimise the need of ink and paper and will hopefully convey precise,
non-interpretable expressions of theories or hypotheses on mind nature.
Under this programme we are trying to launch yet another journal which intends
this capture of a formal science of mind. Obviously formality and
abstraction has been attempted in the past, but instead of focusing on a
concrete formalism and/or a concrete target for formalisation, we open the domain to the mind at large without
committing to a particular language. The commitment is only with the objective:
an unified formal theory of mind.
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If we are successful in this simplifying and focusing attempt, then there will be
a single journal in the reading pile.
Journal focus
The Journal of Mind Theory aims to stress the formal approach to the
investigation of the mind. It is driven by the developing scientific view that
intentions, thoughts and feelings are just natural phenomena and therefore can
and must be explored within a strict scientific framework encompassing both
theoretical and empirical concerns.
- JMT seeks contributions that transcend the traditional
disciplinary boundaries in cognitive science, encouraging articles from researchers interested in a
formal approach to the analysis of cognition.
- JMT emphasises the synthesis of ideas, constructs, theories, and techniques in
the analysis of biological cognition and in the design of cognitive autonomous
systems, offering a platform for addressing the problem of formalization of
cognition from a systemic and naturalized perspective.
- JMT coverage includes the classic topics of theory of mind but with a formal
tint: perception and phenomenology, theory of knowledge, reasoning and
causation, the role of mathematics and logic in cognitive systems and
philosophical foundations of cognition.
- JMT accepts experimental work insofar it addresses specific theories.
- JMT looks for fresh thinking, vigorous debate, and careful analysis!
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 28 March 2009 )
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