Provides a comprehensive development and defense of one of the guiding assumptions of evolutionary psychology: that the human mind is composed of a large number of semi-independent modules. This book is a useful reading for those with an interest in the nature and organization of the mind.

He outlines and defends the basic framework of a perception / belief / desire / planning / motor-control architecture, as well as detailing the likely components and their modes of connectivity. Many specific claims about the place within this architecture of natural language, of a mind-reading system, and others are explained and motivated. A number of novel proposals are made in the course of these discussions, one of which is that creative human thought depends upon a prior kind of creativity of action. Written with unusual clarity and directness, and surveying an extensive range of research in cognitive science, this book will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in the nature and organization of the mind.

1. The Case for Massively Modular Models of Mind
2. The Architecture of Animal Minds
3. Modules of the Human Mind
4. Modularity and Flexibility: the First Steps
5. Creative Cognition in a Modular Mind
6. The Cognitive Basis of Science
7. Distinctively Human Practical Reason
8. Conclusion to the Volume