Physical Symbol System Hypothesis Of Historical Review And Thinking

Physical symbolic system hypothesis can be dated back to over 50 years ago when it was proposed in 1950s. As a vital theory in the early period of cognitive science development, physical symbolic system hypothesis, which is regarded as classical cognitive science, has made great contribution to this field. Thanks to the theory, a plenty of researchers joined in the research club. They gained series of remarkable achievements under the symbolic system paradigm, the core content of the theory, and thus paved the way for cognitive science development. With the broadening range of study tasks, the theory has been challenged by some problems, such as in resolving common sense problems. However, it is no doubt that the reasonability of the basic hypothesis and the capability of explanation of this theory has well demonstrated compellingly high value.This thesis aims to review and reflect the history of physical symbolic system hypothesis. The paper is divided into four parts. The first part is mainly considering its history and background and reminding us of the human thoughts and practices related with physical symbolic system hypothesis in history so as to illustrate that using symbols instead of thinking has its own reasons of speculative philosophy and scientific empirical research bases. The second part provides detailed outlines for the core content and incidental inferences of physical symbolic system hypothesis by reading and collecting Newell and Simon's original works. Besides that, we also list out effective evidence of artificial intelligence and cognitive science to explain reasons why the theory succeeded as soon as it was brought forward. The third part focuses on main sources of physical symbolic system hypothesis: Aristotle's logical thoughts have made a fundamental basis for physical symbolic system hypothesis; Frege's artificial language has unblocked the obstacles of using symbols to simulate human thinking process; Turing has integrated the theories, which is the pioneer of physical symbolic system hypothesis. This part also describes the five steps of theory development. The fourth part introduces a series of applications, analyzes troubles and illustrates the opponency and challenges the hypothesis facing. Understanding physical symbolic system hypothesis correctly can help us deepen the comprehension of the cognitive theory and add values to the history of cognitive science.