Two Accounts of Concept Possession
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/ths.2008.006Keywords
concept possesion, Fodor, concept atomism, mentalism, normativity,Abstract
In this paper I examine the conflict between two radically different accounts of concept possession, one due to Ludwig Wittgenstein and the other due to Jerry Fodor. That conflict centres around the viability of atomism and mentalism. Wittgenstein’s rejection of atomism opens him to a version of Fodor’s familiar objection to non-atomistic positions. J argue that there is little prospect of blunting the force of this objection. Moreover, on closer inspection, atomism turns out not to be as implausible as is often thought. With respect to mentalism, Wittgenstein’s frequent criticisms of mentalist theorising suggests a parallel objection to Fodor’s position. The power of this objection ultimately depends upon whether concepts and rules have normative properties that preclude their being grounded in causal and mechanical phenomena. On this point I argue that there are grounds for the Fodorian to be optimistic. In the light of all this I conclude that Fodor’s account of concept possession is to be preferred to Wittgenstein’s.References
Block, N. 1986. Advertisement for a Semantics in Psychology. Midwest Studies in Philosophy, 10: 257-274.
Brandom, R. 1994. Making it Explicit. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Brandom, R. 2001. Articulatinng Reasons: An Introduction to Inferentialism. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Cain, M. J. 2002. Fodor: Language, Mind and Philosophy. Cambridge: Polity.
Cain, M. J. Forthcoming. ‘The Return of the Nativist.’ Philosophical Explorations. Chomsky, N. 1965. Aspects of the Theory of Syhtax. Cambridge, MA: MTT Press.
Chomsky, N. 1986. Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use. New York: Praeger.
Churchland, P. M. 1991. A Neurocomputational Perspective. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Davidson, D. 1984. Inquiries Into Truth and Interpretation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Dennett, D. C. 1987. The Intentional Stance. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.
Dretske, F. I. 1981. Knowledge and the Flow of information. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Dretske, F. I. 1986. ‘Misrepresentation’. In R. Bogdan ed. Belief. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fodor, J. A. 1975. The Language of Thought. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell.
Fodor, J. A. 1987. Psychosemantics. Cambridge, MA: MTT Press.
Fodor, J. A. 1990a. ‘A Theory of Content, I: The Problem’. In Fodor (1990b).
Fodor, J. A. 1990b. A Theory of Content and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA: MTT Press.
Fodor, J. A. 1994. The Elm and the Expert. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Fodor, J. A. 1998. Concepts: Where Cognitive Science Went Wrong. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Fodor, J. A. and LePore, E. 1992. Holism: A Shopper’s Guide. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Fodor, J. A. and McLaughlin, B. 1990. ‘Connectionism and the Problem of Systematicity: why Smolensky’s solution Doesn’t Work.’ Cognition, 35: 183-204.
Fodor, J. A. and Pylyshyn, Z. 1988. ‘Connectionism and Cognitive Architecture: A Critical Analysis’. Cognition 28: 3-71.
Harman, G. 1982. ‘Conceptual Role Semantics’, Notre Dame Journal of Formal Logic 23: 242-256.
Horwich, P. 1998. Meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Kripke, S. 1982. Wittgenstein: On Rules and Private Language. Oxford: Basil Blackwell. Lewis, D. 1983. Philosophical Papers, vol. I. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Loar, B. 1981. Mind and Meaning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Millikan, R. G. 1984. Language, Thought and Other Biological Categories. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Millikan, R. G. 1989.’Biosemantics’. Jouinal of Phidosophy 86: 281-297.
Papineau, D. 1993. Philosophical Naturalism. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Quine, W. V. O. 1951. ‘Two Dogmas of Empiricism’, Philosophical Review 60: 20-43. Reprinted in Quine (1953).
Quine, W. V. O. 1953. From a Logical Point of View. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Quine, W. V. O. 1960. Word and Object. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Rudder Baker, L. 1995. Explaining Attitudes: A Practical Approach to the Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sellars, W. 1956. ‘Empiricism and the Philosophy of Mind.’ In H. Feigl and M. Scriven eds. The Foundations of Science and the Concepts of Psychology and Psychoanalysis, Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, volume 1. Minneapolis, MI: University of Minnesota Press.
Stalnaker, R. 1984. Inquiry. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Wittgenstein, L. 1953. Philosophical Investigations, trans. G.E.M. Anscombe. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 219
Number of citations: 0