Single Idea 2432

[catalogued under 18. Thought / C. Content / 12. Informational Semantics]

Full Idea

I assume intentional content reduces (in some way) to information. …The content of a thought depends on its external relations; on the way that the thought is related to the world, not the way that it is related to other thoughts.

Gist of Idea

Is content basically information, fixed externally?

Source

Jerry A. Fodor (The Elm and the Expert [1993], §1.2)

Book Reference

Fodor,Jerry A.: 'The Elm and the Expert' [MIT 1995], p.4


A Reaction

Does this make Fodor a 'weak' functionalist? The 'strong' version would say a thought is merely a location in a flow diagram, but Fodor's 'mentalism' includes a further 'content' in each diagram box.