On the Impossibility of Acquiring More Powerful Structures: A Neglected Alternative

This article discusses Fodor’s demonstration of the impossibility of acquiring more powerful structures. Fodor’s extreme functionalism is shown to be unwarranted insofar as it leads to a categorical exclusion of the structural processes involved in cognitive development. An explicit consideration of these processes indicates the possibility of more powerful structures, emerging through self-organization in a way that is distinct from the combinatorial mechanisms which are invoked by Fodor. This point is illustrated by means of a simple example involving an inductive neural network with emergent structural properties. Consequently, it is argued that the possibility of acquiring more powerful structures through self-organization is a plausible alternative to nativism.