Modules Reconsidered

In recent decades, neuroscience has challenged the orthodox account of the modular mind. One way of meeting this challenge has been to go for increasingly “soft” versions of modularity, and one version in particular, the “system” view, is so soft that it promises to meet practically any challenge neuroscience can throw at it. But an account of the mind that tells us that the mind can do different things, even interesting things, is not itself necessarily an interesting account. This chapter considers afresh what ought to be regarded as the sine qua non of modularity, and offers a few arguments against the view that an insipid “system” module could be the legitimate successor of the traditional notion.