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The Need to Override Experience 23
The deep Learning Hypothesis is a high-level principle, a perspective on
cognitive change. It does not in and of itself explain any behaviors or psycho-
logical phenomena, any more than the principle that materia consists of atoms
explains any particular chemical reaction. The purpose of this book is to artic-
ulate the deep Learning Hypothesis into specific theories for three types of
cognitive change, called creativity, adaptation and conversion. The three theo-
ries postulate different mechanisms to account for these three types of change,
but they share a focus on the non-monotonic aspect of cognitive change.
Before embarking on this enterprise, it is useful to rehearse the funda-
mental working assumptions and reflect on the criteria of success. What does
it mean to explain cognitive change? Indeed, what does it mean to explain any
kind of change?
