Multidisciplinary Flux and Multiple Research Traditions Within Cognitive Science

Abstract

Núñez et al. (2019) argue that cognitive science has failed either “to transition to a mature inter-disciplinary coherent field” (p. 782) or “to generate a successful [Lakatosian] research program” (p. 789). We argue that the former was never the intention of many early researchers within the field, while the latter is an inappropriate criterion by which to judge an entire discipline. However, we concur with Núñez et al. (2019) that the individual disciplinary balance within cognitive science has changed over time. Of particular concern is the fact that the use of computational methods appears to be on the wane.