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This collection of new and previously published essays reflects the major research and thought of one of today's preeminent philosophers of mind. The first seven essays are philosophical pieces that focus on mental representation and the foundations of intentionality; they are followed by four psychological essays on cognitive architecture. In his eloquent introduction, Fodor shows how the two areas are thematically united and epistemologically related, highlighting his interest in finding alternatives to holistic accounts of cognitive content.
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Preface and Acknowledgments
Except for the eponymous essay, all the pieces collected here have been published previously . Though I ' ve corrected some minor errors , typos and the like , I' ve otherwise left them intact . In some cases, the later essays reject ideas toward which the earlier ones were partial . (An egregious example is the treatment of teleological approaches to the naturalization of selnantical relations ; these are viewed with optimism in " Fodor' s Guide " and " Selnantics, Wisconsin Style" but denounced in " A Theory of Content I . " ) I think there ' s nevertheless a substantial consistency from chapter to chapter ; a fairly fixed sense of what needs to be done comports with an evolving account of how to do it . Since, anyhow , I don ' t write for posterity , I don ' t feel bad about changing my mind in public . Posterity will , no doubt , have problems of its own ; I am glad to settle for a slightly better story to tell than the one I had last week . " Fodor' s Guide to Mental " Representation is . reprinted from Mind , . 55- 97, by the kind permission of the Oxford University Spring 1985, pp Press. " Selnantics, Wisconsin Style" is reprinted from Synthese 59, 1984, pp . 231- 250, copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers, by the kind permission of the publisher . " Making Mind Matter More "