THE ROLES OF PHILOSOPHY IN COGNITIVE SCIENCE

What does philosophy contribute to cognitive science? This question is addressed indirectly, by describing some of the many roles philosophe rs play. These include pioneer, building inspector, Zen monk, cartogra pher, archivist, cheerleader and gadfly. As a preparatory exercise, ph ilosophers are characterized in terms of their primary methods: argume nt, conceptual analysis and historical perspective. The various roles philosophers in fact play are seen to follow naturally from this way o f characterizing the philosopher.