Paradigmatic Symbol-A Comparative Study of Human and Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Artificial intelligence functions in terms of abstract symbols and human intelligence functions in terms of paradigmatic symbols. A paradigmatic symbol is a particular object, or the mental representation thereof, capable of evoking a whole, yet flexible, field of objects. It is not an object qua object, but object qua agent of elicitation. Thinking in terms of paradigmatic symbols needs no addiononal rules of interpretation, while thinking in terms of abstract symbols requires an ad hoc rule of interpretation to have any relation with actual behavioral operations. Paradigmatic symbols have their places in the life-oriented internal value structure, while abstract symbols have no relation with value. Elicitory capability and value orientedness of paradigms make inductive inference work. Abstract symbols, having neither of these two properties, cannot make inductive inference work without human help.