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Full Idea
The core idea of teleosemantics is that we need to explain how content can be accurate or inaccurate, true or false, realised or unrealised …which must appeal to the distinction between proper functioning and malfunctioning.
Gist of Idea
Teleosemantics explains content in terms of successful and unsuccessful functioning
Source
Peter Schulte (Mental Content [2023], 4.4)
Book Ref
Schulte,Peter: 'Mental Content' [CUP 2023], p.34
A Reaction
My immediate reaction to this is that you don't learn about content by assessing its success. Surely (as with eyesight) you first need to understand what it does, and only then judge its success. …Though success and failure are implicit in function.
23801 | Biosemantics says content is useful mapping from a producer to a consumer system [Millikan, by Schulte] |
23799 | Teleosemantics explains content in terms of successful and unsuccessful functioning [Schulte] |
23800 | Teleosemantic explanations say content is the causal result of naturally selected functions [Schulte] |