Introduction to cognitive science

Cognitive Science seeks to understand the nature of human intelligence based on the acquisition and flexible use of knowledge, through the study of the functional organization that makes it possible, its formalization, and its simulation using artificial systems. It differs from Artificial Intelligence in that it is not limited to creating systems that "work," but rather focuses on how they work. To do so, it requires the techniques and advances of AI, but geared toward this more specific and demanding project, as well as Computational Neuroscience or Control Engineering, as well as Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience, Linguistics, and the Philosophy of Mind. Various approaches have been proposed to pursue this project, which are briefly reviewed: the initial classical cognitivism, inspired by logicist AI; the connectionism of neural networks, which constitutes the central instrument of current AI; and the dynamicist post-cognitivist approach. While the first two are abstract approaches, the latter emphasizes the corporality of the functional organization that enables cognition, and the need to also take into consideration the context to which it responds.