A Theory of Content and Other Essays - (Representation and Mind) by Jerry A Fodor (Paperback)

About the Book

This collection of new and previously published essays reflects the major research and thought of one of today's preeminent philosophers of mind.

Book Synopsis

This collection of new and previously published essays reflects the major research and thought of one of today's preeminent philosophers of mind.

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; these 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 concern in finding alternatives to holistic accounts of mental content. Fodor's philosophical essays develop an informational view of semantics that offers the possibility of atomism about meaning; his psychological essays present a modular view of cognitive architecture that offers the possibility of atomism about perception. These ideas, he points out, are joined in epistemology in way that the books last essay begins to explore. Taken together, the essays represent Fodor's lively attempt to knock the underpinnings from the currently popular relativism to show that the arguments for semantic and psychological holism are insubstantial and that important alternatives exist to be explored.

Review Quotes

Among the books one should read, there are those one must read. This is another must from Jerry Fodor. A brilliant set of essays chronicling (among other things) Fodor's development over the past decade of a theory of mental content. Provocative, witty, challenging and, yes, sometimes exasperating, Fodor simply cannot be ignored He is too good"--Fred Dretske, Stanford University

About the Author

Jerry A. Fodor is State of New Jersey Professor of Philosophy at Rutgers University. He is the author of The Mind Doesn't Work That Way: The Scope and Limits of Computational Psychology (MIT Press) and other books.