Single Idea 12617

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 2. Associationism]

Full Idea

The essential problem is to explain how thinking manages reliably to preserve truth; and Associationism, as Kant rightly pointed out to Hume, hasn't the resources to do so.

Gist of Idea

Associationism can't explain how truth is preserved

Source

Jerry A. Fodor (Concepts:where cogn.science went wrong [1998], Ch.1)

Book Reference

Fodor,Jerry A.: 'Concepts: where cognitive science went wrong' [OUP 1998], p.10


A Reaction

One might be able to give an associationist account of truth-preservation if one became a bit more externalist about it, so that the normal association patterns track their connections with the external world.