Is there a future for AI without representation?

This paper investigates the prospects of AI without repr e-sentation in general, and the proposals of Rodney Brooks in partic u-lar. What turns out to be characteristic of Brooks' proposal is the r ejection of central control in intell i gent agents; his systems has as much or as little representation as traditional AI. The traditional view that representation is nec essary for intelligence pr e supposes that intelligence requires central control. However, much of recent cognitive science suggests that we should dispose of the image of i n-telligent agents as central re p resentation processors. If this paradigm shift is ach ieved, Brooks' pr o posal for non - centralized cognition without representation appears promising for full - blown intelligent agents - though not for conscious agents and thus not for h u man - like AI. Key words: artificial intelligence, Brooks, central control, comput a-tionalism, fun c tion, embodiment, grounding, representation, repr e-sentationalism, subsumption a r chitecture 1.