Philosophy and Cognitive Science: Dialogue Options

Abstract

This paper is about the question of the possibility, prospects and forms of dia­logue between philosophy and cognitive science, raised in a recent publication by V.A. Lektorsky. Several variants of their dialogue are discussed. Thus, philo­sophy can claim to be a kind of mediator in the interaction of the disciplines that make up cognitive science. It can also act as an interpreter of the experimental results obtained in these disciplines. Another variant of the dialogue involves the promotion of philosophers to the vanguard of experimental research, where they can point and illuminate the way for cognitive scientists. A full-fledged dialogue implies equality of the parties, and the article argues that such equality in the dia­logue between philosophy and cognitive science is possible only if cognitive sci­ence and philosophy can obtain meaningful results independently of each other. Therefore, the key to the success of the dialogue between philosophy and cogni­tive science lies, paradoxically, in the success of armchair philosophy, indepen­dent from experimental research. Author shows also under which conditions an armchair philosophy could overcome the current obstacles and make a success.