The Swiss Army Knife Theory: Modularity Of The Mind

The Swiss Army Knife Theory is a controversial but curious explanation of how the mind works. According to this modular approach, our brains would be made up of highly specialized “applications” to effectively solve very specific problems. In this way our mind would constitute a whole set of specific areas very similar to a utility knife.

It should first be noted that this perspective, as well as the concept of modularity to explain perceptual and cognitive processes, is often criticized by neuroscience. Nonetheless, a small number of evolutionary psychologists continue to defend this unique perspective presented in 1992 by anthropologist John Toody and psychologist Leda Cosmides.

However, this idea had already emerged in the philosophical community in the 1980s. It was Jerry A. Fodor, one of the greatest philosophers of the mind, who throughout his life explored the mysteries of the structure of human knowledge. He is a great expert in linguistics, logic, semiotics, psychology, computer science and artificial intelligence.

In addition, we owe him, for example, the foundations of our own cognitive science. And the philosophical specialty of psychology. Thus, one of his most significant and outstanding works was undoubtedly The Modularity of the Mind , published in 1983. This perspective, although dismissed by many experts, still arouses great interest. Indeed, it attempts to understand the mysteries that surround our mental processes.

The Swiss Army Knife Theory and the Eternal Problem of the Mind

In the theory of the Swiss army knife, there is a first aspect on which we all agree. Dr Fodor himself has pointed out that the brain, as an observable physical entity, can be studied better and better with advances in technology. However, there is a time when the study of the mind enters another level. More abstract and imprecise. Where technology loses its value.

Plato and Aristotle tried to explain this. Just like René Descartes and John Locke. This reflection has always continued and, in the 1980s, halfway between philosophy and psychology, the legacy of Noam Chomsky and the cryptomathematician Alan Turing became a singular way of defining and explaining our cognitive processes.

Let’s take a look at the principles that define the Swiss Army knife theory.

Mental modules

In the late 1950s, linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky began to defend one of his best-known theories: language is not a learned behavior, but an innate functional mental faculty. This premise was one of the pillars that later inspired Dr. Fodor.

• He also drew directly on Turing’s work on his computational mathematical models. Little by little, he drew the bases of his approach, where he delimited a model of the mind delimited by separate and specialized mental faculties.
• He called this theory the psychology of the faculties, so that every process in our mind is organized into different specialized modules, like single applications on a computer. There is therefore a knot for sensation and perception, another for will, another for memory, another for language. ..

Defenders of the Swiss Army Knife Theory

Jerry A. Fodor published his theories in his book The Modularity of the Mind (1983). Drs Tooby and Cosmides later formulated the Swiss Army Knife Theory based on the work of the former. But where are we today? Is this approach which understands the mind as formed of specialized applications viable?

As we have noted, the approach remains controversial. However, there are many figures in the scientific field who defend the psychology of the faculties stated by Fodor. Nancy Kanwisher is a professor and researcher in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). It defends a unique position in this public debate.

One of her best-known TED talks is the one she gave in 2014 to explain the validity of the Swiss Army Knife Theory. In addition, it is also based on several scientific studies which defend this idea and which are published regularly in the Journal of Neuroscience .

The case of prosopagnosia

One thing Dr. Kanwisher was able to see from MRI scans is that there are many areas of the brain that do not communicate with each other ; they work in isolation. This means, for example, that people with prosopagnosia can see perfectly and, at the same time, are unable to recognize people.

They can physically see their children. But in many cases, they don’t recognize them when they pick them up from school. There are therefore many specialized areas of the brain that function as “modules”. For example, we can evoke regions as concrete as those dealing with colors. Shapes. Some movement. Speech, etc.

Critique of Modular Theory of Mind

Many see modular theory of mind or Swiss Army knife theory as an overly simplistic approach.  In the purest Darwinian style, where, for example, the idea of ​​natural selection is not excluded.

This perspective includes, for example, that our behaviors almost resemble programs that we acquire as we move forward as a species. Thus, each process, each function, develops and specializes independently and separately from the rest.

Studies, such as the one published in the journal PLOS Biology , highlight the risk of adopting this type of modular approach to human cognition. We cannot therefore speak of the brain as a fragmented entity. It doesn’t fit the phone metaphor, the one we add apps to based on our daily needs. It is much more complex than that.

While it is true that there are areas which do not communicate with each other, it is not true that the mind works through different specialized sectors and separated from each other. The brain is designed to share information and work as a unit, all areas are interconnected and share information in a constant way.

Our reasoning, for example, is far from modular, it is holistic ; we use multiple concepts, inferences, processes, deductions… Therefore, the brain and cognitive processes cannot be understood under the classic metaphor of a computer. We are much more complex, fascinating and unpredictable than that.

Our thoughts

The anxious brain and negative thoughts are caused, according to science, by an alteration in the cerebral amygdala.