Hostname: page-component-89b8bd64d-9prln Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-05-06T20:09:26.086Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Counterfactuals in science and engineering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2008

Sanjay Chandrasekharan  and
Nancy J. Nersessian
Sanjay Chandrasekharan
Affiliation:
School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0280. sanjayan@cc.gatech.edunancyn@cc.gatech.eduhttp://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/~sanjayan/http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~nersessian/
Nancy J. Nersessian
Affiliation:
School of Interactive Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0280. sanjayan@cc.gatech.edunancyn@cc.gatech.eduhttp://www-static.cc.gatech.edu/~sanjayan/http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~nersessian/
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The notion of mutation is applicable to the generation of novel designs and solutions in engineering and science. This suggests that engineers and scientists have to work against the biases identified in counterfactual thinking. Therefore, imagination appears a lot less rational than claimed in the target article.

Information

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 30 , Issue 5-6 , December 2007 , pp. 454 - 455
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Byrne, R. M. J. (2005) The rational imagination: How people create alternatives to reality. MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chandrasekharan, S. (2005) Epistemic structure: An inquiry into how agents change the world for cognitive congeniality. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Available as Carleton University Cognitive Science Technical Report, at: http://www.carleton.ca/iis/TechReports/files/2005-02.pdf.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D. & Miller, D. (1986) Norm theory: Comparing reality to its alternatives. Psychological Review 93:136–53.Google Scholar
Kahneman, D. & Tversky, A. (1982) The simulation heuristic. In: Judgment under uncertainty: heuristics and biases, ed. Kahneman, D., Slovic, P. & Tversky, A., pp. 201–208. Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nersessian, N. J. (2002) The cognitive basis of model-based reasoning in science. In: The cognitive basis of science, ed. Carruthers, P., Stich, S. & Siegal, M.. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nersessian, N. J. (in press) Creating scientific concepts. MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar