Counterfactual thinking as an issue between language and pretend play = El pensamiento contrafactual como un problema entre el lenguaje y el juego de simulación Articles uri icon

authors

  • MURCIA CARBONELL, ALBERTO

publication date

  • February 2016

start page

  • 35

end page

  • 58

issue

  • 1

volume

  • 37

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 0210-9395

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 1579-3699

abstract

  • Discussions on counterfactual thinking (CT) have been focused onwhether it is a language skill or it emerges spontaneously before language acquisition. This paper surveys the most compelling arguments regarding these frameworks: (1) the approach'CT as a language skill'; (2) those whoclaim that pretending shows that children have CT; (3) those who consider pretend play is a rehearsal for cognitive dispositions. I shall point out that the three approaches on CT are incomplete: (1) neglects pretend play (which prelinguistic children perform) as an instantiation of the CT; (2) puts too much emphasis on the linguistic dimension of pretense; (3) is highly demanding on the cognitive architecture that we ought to have by nature -- the socalled children as scientists.

keywords

  • counterfactual reasoning; cognitive development; causal learning; bayesian learning; interventionism; razonamiento contrafactual; desarrollo cognitivo; aprendizajecausal; aprendizaje bayesiano; intervencionismo