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Single Idea 12615
[filed under theme 18. Thought / C. Content / 2. Ideas
]
Full Idea
The idea that there are mental representations is the idea that there are Ideas minus the idea that Ideas are images.
Clarification
'Ideas' (with a capital 'I') is the word as used in the eighteenth century
Gist of Idea
Mental representations are the old 'Ideas', but without images
Source
Jerry A. Fodor (Concepts:where cogn.science went wrong [1998], Ch.1)
Book Ref
Fodor,Jerry A.: 'Concepts: where cognitive science went wrong' [OUP 1998], p.8
A Reaction
Good for you, Fodor. I've always thought that the vociferous contempt with which modern philosphers refer to the old notion of 'Ideas' was grossly exaggerated. At last someone puts a clear finger on what seems to be the difficulty.
The
18 ideas
with the same theme
[mental events which internally represent reality]:
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5685
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True ideas are images, such as of a man, a chimera, or God
[Descartes]
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21807
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Ideas are powerful entities, which can produce further ideas
[Spinoza, by Schmid]
|
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4830
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An 'idea' is a mental conception which is actively formed by the mind in thinking
[Spinoza]
|
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4842
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Ideas are not images formed in the brain, but are the conceptions of thought
[Spinoza]
|
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20311
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An idea involves affirmation or negation
[Spinoza]
|
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6486
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Ideas are the objects of understanding when we think
[Locke]
|
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15967
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The word 'idea' covers thinking best, for imaginings, concepts, and basic experiences
[Locke]
|
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12496
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Complex ideas are all resolvable into simple ideas
[Locke]
|
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12945
|
Thoughts correspond to sensations, but ideas are independent of thoughts
[Leibniz]
|
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12938
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An idea is an independent inner object, which expresses the qualities of things
[Leibniz]
|
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19357
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The idea of green seems simple, but it must be compounded of the ideas of blue and yellow
[Leibniz]
|
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12950
|
We must distinguish images from exact defined ideas
[Leibniz]
|
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19427
|
True ideas represent what is possible; false ideas represent contradictions
[Leibniz]
|
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19423
|
By an 'idea' I mean not an actual thought, but the resources we can draw on to think
[Leibniz]
|
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5374
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Berkeley probably used 'idea' to mean both the act of apprehension and the thing apprehended
[Russell on Berkeley]
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23630
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Only philosophers treat ideas as objects
[Reid]
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12615
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Mental representations are the old 'Ideas', but without images
[Fodor]
|
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5636
|
Cartesian 'ideas' confuse concepts and propositions
[Scruton]
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