Representational Structure

Abstract

Abstract This chapter examines semantically-significant representational structure and distinguishes two broad kinds: structural representation and general-purpose compositional structure. Structural representations rely on a structural correspondence between representation and world, like maps. General-purpose compositional structure is exemplified by natural language sentences and conscious deliberate thoughts composed out of concepts. This allows any concept to be combined with any other concept(s) of the right type, unlike structural representations where the relations that define structure have specific representational contents. After defining representational structure, the chapter surveys different varieties found in mental representations. It then characterizes structural representation, distinguishing this from mere representational organization. Next it focuses on the general-purpose compositionality of language and thought, arguing that this is not a form of structural representation, or if it is, then only of a very abstract kind. The chapter clarifies terminology and draws connections between representational structure, computational processes, and informational models.