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Single Idea 2983

[filed under theme 18. Thought / C. Content / 1. Content ]

Full Idea

Fodor is concerned with producing a realist and physicalist account of 'narrow content' (i.e. wholly in-the-head content).

Gist of Idea

Maybe narrow content is physical, broad content less so

Source

comment on Jerry A. Fodor (works [1986]) by William Lyons - Approaches to Intentionality p.54

Book Ref

Lyons,William: 'Approaches to Intentionality' [OUP 1998], p.54


A Reaction

The emergence of 'wide' content has rather shaken Fodor's game plan. We can say "Oh dear, I thought I was referring to H2O", so there must be at least some narrow aspect to reference.


The 26 ideas with the same theme [how minds internally represent reality]:

The complexity of the content correlates with the complexity of the object [Russell]
Sartre rejects mental content, and the idea that the mind has hidden inner features [Sartre, by Rowlands]
Content is much more than just sentence meaning [Searle]
Egocentric or de se content seems to be irreducibly so [Jackson]
Although we may classify ideas by content, we individuate them differently, as their content can change [Perry]
Some representational states, like perception, may be nonconceptual [Evans, by Schulte]
States have content if we can predict them well by assuming intentionality [Dennett, by Schulte]
All thought represents either properties or indexicals [Bonjour]
Maybe narrow content is physical, broad content less so [Lyons on Fodor]
Are meaning and expressed concept the same thing? [Burge, by Segal]
Problem-solving clearly involves manipulating images [Rey]
Animals map things over time as well as over space [Rey]
All thinking has content [Lyons]
You cannot determine the full content from a thought's intrinsic character, as relations are involved [Fine,K]
The naturalistic views of how content is created are the causal theory and the teleological theory [Lowe]
The content of a thought is just the meaning of a sentence [Rowlands]
Thought content is either satisfaction conditions, or exercise of concepts [Maund, by PG]
The content of thought is what is required to understand it (which involves hearers) [Recanati]
Two sentences with different meanings can, on occasion, have the same content [Magidor]
Aboutness is always intended, and cannot be accidental [Vaidya]
Naturalist accounts of representation must match the views of cognitive science [Schulte]
Phenomenal and representational character may have links, or even be united [Schulte]
On the whole, referential content is seen as broad, and sense content as narrow [Schulte]
Naturalists must explain both representation, and what is represented [Schulte]
Naturalistic accounts of content cannot rely on primitive mental or normative notions [Schulte]
Maybe we can explain mental content in terms of phenomenal properties [Schulte]