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Single Idea 3012
[filed under theme 18. Thought / C. Content / 10. Causal Semantics
]
Full Idea
If thoughts have their causal roles in virtue of their contents, then two thoughts with identical contents ought to be identical in their causal roles.
Gist of Idea
Do identical thoughts have identical causal roles?
Source
Jerry A. Fodor (Psychosemantics [1987], p.140)
Book Ref
Fodor,Jerry A.: 'Psychosemantics' [MIT 1993], p.140
A Reaction
A pencil would presumably have the same causal role if it wrote a love poem or hate mail. But a pencil is also good for scratching your back. 'Causal role' can be a rather vacuous idea.
The
27 ideas
from 'Psychosemantics'
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5498
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Mind is a set of hierarchical 'homunculi', which are made up in turn from subcomponents
[Fodor, by Lycan]
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7326
|
Intentionality doesn't go deep enough to appear on the physicists' ultimate list of things
[Fodor]
|
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7014
|
A particle and a coin heads-or-tails pick out to perfectly well-defined predicates and properties
[Fodor]
|
|
15494
|
We can't use propositions to explain intentional attitudes, because they would need explaining
[Fodor]
|
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2990
|
Contrary to commonsense, most of what is in the mind seems to be unlearned
[Fodor]
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2991
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Hume's associationism offers no explanation at all of rational thought
[Fodor]
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2992
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We may be able to explain rationality mechanically
[Fodor]
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2993
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Any piece of software can always be hard-wired
[Fodor]
|
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2994
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In CRTT thought may be represented, content must be
[Fodor]
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2995
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Supervenience gives good support for mental causation
[Fodor]
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2996
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Mental states may have the same content but different extensions
[Fodor]
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2998
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Grice thinks meaning is inherited from the propositional attitudes which sentences express
[Fodor]
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2999
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Obsession with narrow content leads to various sorts of hopeless anti-realism
[Fodor]
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3000
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Meaning holism is a crazy doctrine
[Fodor]
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3002
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If mind is just physical, how can it follow the rules required for intelligent thought?
[Fodor]
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3001
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Behaviourism has no theory of mental causation
[Fodor]
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3003
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Very different mental states can share their contents, so content doesn't seem to be constructed from functional role
[Fodor]
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3004
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The meaning of a sentence derives from its use in expressing an attitude
[Fodor]
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3005
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'Jocasta' needs to be distinguished from 'Oedipus's mother' because they are connected by different properties
[Fodor]
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3006
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Whatever in the mind delivers falsehood is parasitic on what delivers truth
[Fodor]
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3007
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Many different verification procedures can reach 'star', but it only has one semantic value
[Fodor]
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3008
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Evolution suggests that innate knowledge of human psychology would be beneficial
[Fodor]
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3009
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Sticklebacks have an innate idea that red things are rivals
[Fodor]
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3010
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Belief and desire are structured states, which need mentalese
[Fodor]
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3011
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Causal powers must be a crucial feature of mental states
[Fodor]
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3012
|
Do identical thoughts have identical causal roles?
[Fodor]
|
|
2988
|
Folk psychology is the only explanation of behaviour we have
[Fodor]
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