What does this research mean for the field?

Representationalism and action-oriented theories of mind can be reconciled by replacing symbolic referentialism with pragmatist inferentialism, which grounds mental representation in inference and adequacy for purpose rather than reference and truth conditions. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.NOVEL_FINDING. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.ESTABLISHES_NEW_DIRECTION.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To resolve the conflict between representationalism and action-oriented cognitive theories by applying the epistemology of scientific modeling to mental model research.

August 19, 2026Philosophical PsychologyOpen Access

Rethinking mental representation through the epistemology of modeling

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Implication

Epistemological analysis demonstrates that pragmatist inferentialism reconciles representational and action-oriented theories in cognitive science, highlighting a unified model of higher cognition.

Key Points

To resolve the conflict between representationalism and action-oriented cognitive theories by applying the epistemology of scientific modeling to mental model research.
Conceptual analysis evaluating the limitations of classical symbolic referentialism against empirical evidence from higher cognition.
Theoretical framework development integrating mental model research with scientific modeling epistemology to formulate pragmatist inferentialism.
Replaces truth-conditional symbolic referentialism with pragmatist inferentialism, defining mental representation via inference and functional adequacy.
Reconciles empirical psychological research on conceptual representation with embodied, action-oriented cognitive theories.

Cite This Study

A 2026 study studied this question.

synapsesocial.com/papers/6a8562eb03308d306e2d5e16 https://doi.org/10.1080/09515089.2026.2718426

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Implication

Epistemological analysis demonstrates that pragmatist inferentialism reconciles representational and action-oriented theories in cognitive science, highlighting a unified model of higher cognition.

Rethinking mental representation through the epistemology of modeling

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

Rethinking mental representation through the epistemology of modeling

Discussion

Member takes

Implication

Key Points

Cite This Study

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