•  12
    Dynamical Phenomena and Their Models: Truth and Empirical Correctness
    Foundations of Science 28 (1): 327-375. 2020.
    In the epistemological tradition, there are two main interpretations of the semantic relation that an empirical theory may bear to the real world. According to realism, the theory-world relationship should be conceived as truth; according to instrumentalism, instead, it should be limited to empirical adequacy. Then, depending on how empirical theories are conceived, either syntactically as a class of sentences, or semantically as a class of models, the concepts of truth and empirical adequacy as…Read more
  •  7
    Representing n-ary relations in the Semantic Web
    with Giuseppe Sergioli, Giuliano Vivanet, and Simone Pinna
    Logic Journal of the IGPL. forthcoming.
    Knowledge representation is a central issue for Artificial Intelligence and the Semantic Web. In particular, the problem of representing n-ary relations in RDF-based languages such as RDFS or OWL by no means is an obvious one. With respect to previous attempts, we show why the solutions proposed by the well known W3C Working Group Note on n-ary relations are not satisfactory on several scores. We then present our abstract model for representing n-ary relations as directed labeled graphs, and we …Read more
  • Model Types and Explanatory Styles in Cognitive Theories
    with Simone Pinna
    In Matthieu Fontaine, Cristina Barés-Gómez, Francisco Salguero-Lamillar, Lorenzo Magnani & Ángel Nepomuceno-Fernández (eds.), Model-Based Reasoning in Science and Technology: Inferential Models for Logic, Language, Cognition and Computation, Springer Verlag. 2019.
  •  16
    For a Topology of Dynamical Systems
    In Gianfranco Minati, Mario Abram & Eliano Pessa (eds.), Towards a post-Bertalanffy systemics, Springers. pp. 81-87. 2016.
    Dynamical systems are mathematical objects meant to formally capture the evolution of deterministic systems. Although no topological constraint is usually imposed on their state spaces, there is prima facie evidence that the topological properties of dynamical systems might naturally depend on their dynamical features. This paper aims to prepare the grounds for a systematic investigation of such dependence, by exploring how the underlying dynamics might naturally induce a corresponding topology.
  •  17
    Reversible Dynamics and the Directionality of Time
    In Gianfranco Minati, Mario Abram & Eliano Pessa (eds.), Methods, Models, Simulations and Approaches towards a General Theory of Change, World Scientific. pp. 161-172. 2012.
    The received view on the problem of the direction of time holds it that time has no intrinsic dynamical properties, and that its apparent asymmetry, to be understood in purely topological terms, is dependent on the directional properties of physical processes. In this paper we shall challenge both claims, in the light of an algebraic representation of time. First, we will show how to give a precise formulation to the intuitive idea that time possesses an intrinsic dynamics; this formulation reli…Read more
  •  12
    Dynamical systems are mathematical structures whose aim is to describe the evolution of an arbitrary deterministic system through time, which is typically modeled as (a subset of) the integers or the real numbers. We show that it is possible to generalize the standard notion of a dynamical system, so that its time dimension is only required to possess the algebraic structure of a monoid: first, we endow any dynamical system with an associated graph and, second, we prove that such a graph is a ca…Read more
  •  232
    The received view about emergence and reduction is that they are incompatible categories. I argue in this paper that, contrary to the received view, emergence and reduction can hold together. To support this thesis, I focus attention on dynamical systems and, on the basis of a general representation theorem, I argue that, as far as these systems are concerned, the emulation relationship is sufficient for reduction (intuitively, a dynamical system DS1 emulates a second dynamical system DS2 when D…Read more
  •  342
    Computers, Dynamical Systems, Phenomena, and the Mind
    Dissertation, Indiana University. 1992.
    This work addresses a broad range of questions which belong to four fields: computation theory, general philosophy of science, philosophy of cognitive science, and philosophy of mind. Dynamical system theory provides the framework for a unified treatment of these questions. ;The main goal of this dissertation is to propose a new view of the aims and methods of cognitive science--the dynamical approach . According to this view, the object of cognitive science is a particular set of dynamical syst…Read more
  •  20
    For a dynamical approach to human computation
    with Simone Pinna
    Logic Journal of the IGPL 24 (4). 2016.
  • Dynamical models of cognition
    In T. Van Gelder & Robert Port (eds.), Mind As Motion, Mit Press. pp. 549-571. 1995.
  •  113
    Hattiangadi's theory of scientific problems and the structure of standard epistemologies
    British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 39 (4): 421-439. 1988.
  •  34
    According to the received view, reduction is a deductive relation between two formal theories. In this paper, I develop an alternative approach, according to which reduction is a representational relation between models, rather than a deductive relation between theories; more specifically, I maintain that this representational relation is the one of emulation. To support this thesis, I focus attention on mathematical dynamical systems and I argue that, as far as these systems are concerned, the …Read more
  •  284
    Il lavoro esamina criticamente i presupposti di cinque differenti approcci alla Scienza Cognitiva, (simbolico, connessionista, dinamico, della cognizione incarnata e della vita artificiale) e sostiene che tutti e cinque condividono tacitamente un’ipotesi metodologica molto generale. Tale ipotesi, che propongo di chiamare simulazionismo , postula che i fenomeni cognitivi di un qualunque sistema reale possono essere adeguatamente spiegati sulla base di opportuni modelli di simulazione del sistema …Read more
  •  18
    Computation, Dynamics, and Cognition
    Oxford University Press. 1997.
    This book explores the application of dynamical theory to cognitive science. Giunti shows how the dynamical approach can illuminate problems of cognition, information processing, consciousness, meaning, and the relation between body and mind