Minds Without Meanings: An Essay On The Content Of Concepts

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In cognitive science, conceptual content is frequently understood as the “meaning” of a mental representation. This position raises largely empirical questions about what concepts are, what form they take in mental processes, and how they connect to the world they are about. In Minds without Meaning, Jerry Fodor and Zenon Pylyshyn review some of the proposals put forward to answer these questions and find that none of them is remotely defensible. Fodor and Pylyshyn determine that all of these proposals share a commitment to a two-factor theory of conceptual content, which holds that the content of a concept consists of its sense together with its reference. Fodor and Pylyshyn argue instead that there is no conclusive case against the possibility of a theory of concepts that takes reference as their sole semantic property. Such a theory, if correct, would provide for the naturalistic account of content that cognitive science lacks—and badly needs. Fodor and Pylyshyn offer a sketch of how this theory might be developed into an account of perceptual reference that is broadly compatible with empirical findings and with the view that the mental processes effecting perceptual reference are largely preconceptual, modular, and encapsulated.

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Minds without Meanings Minds without Meanings An Essay on the Content of Concepts Jerry A. Fodor and Zenon W. Pylyshyn The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England © 2015 Massachusetts Institute of Technology   All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.   MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email special_ [email protected]   This book was set in Stone by the MIT Press. Printed and bound in the United States of America.   Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data   Fodor, Jerry A. Minds without meanings : an essay on the content of concepts / Jerry A. Fodor and Zenon W. Pylyshyn.  pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-262-02790-8 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Concepts.  2. Reference (Philosophy).  3. Representation (Philosophy).  I. Title. BD181.F63 2014 121'.4—dc23 2014003811   10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Acronyms vii 1 Working Assumptions  1 2 Concepts Misconstrued  19 3 Contrarian Semantics  65 4 Reference within the Perceptual Circle: Experimental Evidence for Mechanisms of Perceptual Reference  85 5 Reference beyond the Perceptual Circle  133 Notes 157 References 175 Index 187 Acronyms ANN Artificial neural net BCS Basic cognitive science CTM The computational theory of mind DCT The dual code theory (of mental representation) EP Empiricist principle GW George Washington (example) IRS Inferential role semantics ITM Inferential role theory of mind LL Leibniz’s law LOT Language of thought MOT Multiple object tracking (experimental method) OFP Our first president P&C Prinz and Clark 2004 PA Propositional attitude PC Perceptual circle PLA Private language argument PRS Purely referential semantics RTM Repre
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