Language Of Thought
LOT 2: The Language of Thought Revisited
Jerry Fodor presents a new development of his famous Language of Thought hypothesis, which has since the 1970s been at the centre of interdisciplinary debate about how the mind works. Fodor defends and extends the groundbreaking idea that thinking is couched in a symbolic system realized in the brain. This idea is central to the representational theory of mind which Fodor has established as a key reference point in modern philosophy, psychology, and cognitive science. The foundation stone of our present cognitive science is Turing's suggestion that cognitive processes are not associations but computations; and computation requires a language of thought.So the latest on the Language of Thought hypothesis, from its progenitor, promises to be a landmark in the study of the mind. LOT 2 offers a more cogent presentation and a fuller explication of Fodor's distinctive account of the mind, with various intriguing new features. The central role of compositionality in the representational theory of mind is revealed: most of what we know about concepts follows from the compositionality of thoughts. Fodor shows the necessity of a referentialist account of the content of intentional states, and of an atomistic account of the individuation of concepts. Not least among the new developments is Fodor's identification and persecution of pragmatism as the leading source of error in the study of the mind today.LOT 2 sees Fodor advance undaunted towards the ultimate goal of a theory of the cognitive mind, and in particular a theory of the intentionality of cognition. No one who works on the mind can ignore Fodor's views, expressed in the coruscating and provocative style which has delighted and disconcerted countless readers over the years.
Amazon Price: $24.95 
Hume Variations (Lines of Thought)
Hume? Yes, David Hume, that's who Jerry Fodor looks to for help in advancing our understanding of the mind. Fodor claims his Treatise of Human Nature as the foundational document of cognitive science: it launched the project of constructing an empirical psychology on the basis of a representational theory of mind. Going back to this work after more than 250 years we find that Hume is remarkably perceptive about the components and structure that a theory of mind requires. Careful study of the Treatise helps us to see what is amiss with much twentieth-century philosophy of mind, and to get on the right track.
Amazon Price: $43.50
Holism: A Shopper's Guide
The main question addressed in this book is whether individuation of the contents of thoughts and linguistic expressions is inherently holistic. The authors consider arguments that are alleged to show that the meaning of a scientific hypothesis depends on the entire theory that entails it, or that the content of a concept depends on the entire belief system of which it is part. If these arguments are sound then it would follow that the meanings of words, sentences, hypotheses, predictions, discourses, dialogs, texts, thoughts and the like are merely derivative. The implications of holism about meaning for other philosophical issues (intentional explanation, translation, Realism, skepticism, etc.) will also be explored. Authors discussed include Quine, Davidson, Lewis, Bennett, Block, Field, Churchland, and others. The book is intended for all those interested in language, mind, metaphysics or epistemology.
Amazon Price: $41.95
Lexical Competence (Language, Speech, and Communication)
"`Semantics' is a very puzzling word. It acquires different meanings in such expressions as Model-theoretical Semantics, Lexical Semantics, Structural Semantics and so on. Marconi's book is a remarkable attempt to make the meaning of meaning less meaningless." -- Umberto Eco "What does it take to understand a word? This exemplarily lucid and up-to-date book by one of the leaders of analytic philosophy's current upsurge in continental Europe has plenty to teach philosophers, linguists and cognitive scientists about the answer. -- Timothy Williamson, University of Edinburgh "In a manner at once learned and persuasive, Marconi's book argues that an adequate theory of language must prioritize inferential competence (the ability to recognize what follows inferentially) alongside referential competence (the ability to recognize occasions of use). His plausible defense of this thesis is bound to attract attention and controversy. Win, lose, or draw it will make a significant contribution to our understanding of language use." -- Nicholas Rescher, University Professor of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh What does our ability to use words--that is, our lexical competence--consist of? What is the difference between a system that can be said to understand language and one that cannot? Most approaches to word meaning fail to account for an essential aspect of our linguistic competence, namely, our ability to apply words to the world. This monograph proposes a dual picture of human lexical competence in which inferential and referential abilities are separate--a proposal confirmed by neuropsychological research on brain- damaged persons. According to the author, artificial systems for natural-language understanding could come much closer to achieving their goal if they conformed to this dual picture of competence. Topics discussed include classical issues in the philosophy of language and the philosophy of mind such as the analytic/synthetic dichotomy, semantic holism, causal theories of reference, dual-factor theories, publicness, verificationism, and Searle's Chinese room. Language, Speech, Communication series
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Amazon Price: $40.00
The Language of Thought (The Language & Thought Series)
The first in a series on general and theoretical linguistics, psycholinguistics and the philosophy of language.
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The Enigma of the Mind: The Mind-Body Problem in Contemporary Thought
Sergio Moravia's The Enigma of the Mind (originally published in Italian as L'enigma della mente) offers a broad, lucid, critical and historical survey of one of the fundamental debates in the philosophy of mind: the relationship of mind and body. The book has two central aims--to sketch the major recent contributions to the mind-body problem from philosophers of mind, and, once this framework is established, to articulate a particular interpretation of the mental and the mind-body problem.
Amazon Price: $36.99
Vygotsky's Psychology-Philosophy: A Metaphor for Language Theory and Learning (Cognition and Language: A Series in Psycholinguistics)
This book is an introduction to Vygotsky and his theories of language and second language acquisition. Employing a dual framework of metatheory and metaphor, the author focuses on Vygotsky's cultural--historical perspective (contrasted with the sociocultural heritage more prevalent in the West) and its emphasis on history as change and thought as related to action. Included also is a comparison of Vygotskyan and Chomskyan theories of language and grammar.
Amazon Price: $109.00
