The nature (and artifice) of cognition

It ought to be uncontroversial that human cognition cannot be explained merely by constructing a device that behaves outwardly like a human being (i.e. that maps the same inputs onto the same outputs) without regard for how it accomplishes that end: there are too many means to the same end. An important part of the functional role of a mental state consists in the causal relations between that mental state and other mental states: internal interactions matter. Even "blind" AI has heuristic value. Cognitive science needs not wait for consensus concerning the fundamental nature of mind. On the other hand, it is very likely to help us answer the difficult ontological questions.