Intentionality, Cognition, and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy

Intentionality, Cognition, and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy PDF Author: Gyula Klima
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780823264193
Category : Cognition
Languages : en
Pages : 374

Get Book Here

Book Description
The essays in this volume explore the intricacies and varieties of the conceptual relationships among intentionality, cognition, and mental representation as conceived by some of the greatest mediaeval philosophers, including Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and Buridan, as well as some of their lesser-known but still influential contemporaries. The clarification of these conceptual connections sheds new light not only on the intriguing historical relationships between mediaeval and modern thought on these issues, but also on some fundamental questions in the philosophy of mind as it is conceived today.

Intentionality, Cognition, and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy

Intentionality, Cognition, and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy PDF Author: Gyula Klima
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780823264193
Category : Cognition
Languages : en
Pages : 374

Get Book Here

Book Description
The essays in this volume explore the intricacies and varieties of the conceptual relationships among intentionality, cognition, and mental representation as conceived by some of the greatest mediaeval philosophers, including Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and Buridan, as well as some of their lesser-known but still influential contemporaries. The clarification of these conceptual connections sheds new light not only on the intriguing historical relationships between mediaeval and modern thought on these issues, but also on some fundamental questions in the philosophy of mind as it is conceived today.

Intentionality, Cognition, and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy

Intentionality, Cognition, and Mental Representation in Medieval Philosophy PDF Author: Gyula Klima
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823262766
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 590

Get Book Here

Book Description
It is commonly supposed that certain elements of medieval philosophy are uncharacteristically preserved in modern philosophical thought through the idea that mental phenomena are distinguished from physical phenomena by their intentionality, their intrinsic directedness toward some object. The many exceptions to this presumption, however, threaten its viability. This volume explores the intricacies and varieties of the conceptual relationships medieval thinkers developed among intentionality, cognition, and mental representation. Ranging from Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and Buridan through less-familiar writers, the collection sheds new light on the various strands that run between medieval and modern thought and bring us to a number of fundamental questions in the philosophy of mind as it is conceived today.

Theories of Cognition in the Later Middle Ages

Theories of Cognition in the Later Middle Ages PDF Author: Robert Pasnau
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521583688
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 352

Get Book Here

Book Description
A major contribution to the history of philosophy in the later medieval period (1250-1350).

Duns Scotus's Theory of Cognition

Duns Scotus's Theory of Cognition PDF Author: Richard Cross
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191507792
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 241

Get Book Here

Book Description
Richard Cross provides the first complete and detailed account of Duns Scotus's theory of cognition, tracing the processes involved in cognition from sensation, through intuition and abstraction, to conceptual thought. He provides an analysis of the ontological status of the various mental items (acts and dispositions) involved in cognition, and a new account of Scotus on nature of conceptual content. Cross goes on to offer a novel, reductionist, interpretation of Scotus's view of the ontological status of representational content, as well as new accounts of Scotus's opinions on intuitive cognition, intelligible species, and the varieties of consciousness. Scotus was a perceptive but highly critical reader of his intellectual forebears, and this volume places his thought clearly within the context of thirteenth-century reflections on cognitive psychology, influenced as they were by Aristotle, Augustine, and Avicenna. As far as possible, Duns Scotus's Theory of Cognition traces developments in Scotus's thought during the ten or so highly productive years that formed the bulk of his intellectual life.

Mental Language

Mental Language PDF Author: Claude Panaccio
Publisher: Fordham Univ Press
ISBN: 0823272613
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 446

Get Book Here

Book Description
The notion that human thought is structured like a language, with a precise syntax and semantics, has been pivotal in recent philosophy of mind. Yet it is not a new idea: it was systematically explored in the fourteenth century by William of Ockham and became central in late medieval philosophy. Mental Language examines the background of Ockham's innovation by tracing the history of the mental language theme in ancient and medieval thought. Panaccio identifies two important traditions: one philosophical, stemming from Plato and Aristotle, and the other theological, rooted in the Fathers of the Christian Church. The study then focuses on the merging of the two traditions in the Middle Ages, as they gave rise to detailed discussions over the structure of human thought and its relations with signs and language. Ultimately, Panaccio stresses the originality and significance of Ockham's doctrine of the oratio mentalis (mental discourse) and the strong impression it made upon his immediate successors.

What are Mental Representations?

What are Mental Representations? PDF Author: Joulia Smortchkova
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190686685
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book Here

Book Description
The topic of this book is mental representation, a theoretical concept that lies at the core of cognitive science. Together with the idea that thinking is analogous to computational processing, this concept is responsible for the "cognitive turn" in the sciences of the mind and brain since the 1950s. Conceiving of cognitive processes (such as perception, reasoning, and motor control) as consisting of the manipulation of contentful vehicles that represent the world has led to tremendous empirical advancements in our explanations of behaviour. Perhaps the most famous discovery that explains behavior by appealing to the notion of mental representations was the discovery of 'place' cells that underlie spatial navigation and positioning, which earned researchers John O'Keefe, May-Britt Moser, and Edvard I. Moser a joint Nobel Prize in 2014. And yet, despite the empirical importance of the concept, there is no agreed definition or theoretical understanding of mental representation. This book constitutes a state-of-the-art overview on the topic of mental representation, assembling some of the leading experts in the field and allowing them to engage in meaningful exchanges over some of the most contentious questions. The collection gathers both proponents and critics of the notion, making room for debates dealing with the theoretical and ontological status of representations, the possibility of formulating a general account of mental representation which would fit our best explanatory practices, and the possibility of delivering such an account in fully naturalistic terms. Some contributors explore the relation between mutually incompatible notions of mental representation, stemming from the different disciplines composing the cognitive sciences (such as neuroscience, psychology, and computer science). Others question the ontological status and explanatory usefulness of the notion. And finally, some try to sketch a general theory of mental representations that could face the challenges outlined in the more critical chapters of the volume.

Mental Fictionalism

Mental Fictionalism PDF Author: Tamás Demeter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000584003
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 418

Get Book Here

Book Description
What are mental states? When we talk about people’s beliefs or desires, are we talking about what is happening inside their heads? If so, might cognitive science show that we are wrong? Might it turn out that mental states do not exist? Mental fictionalism offers a new approach to these longstanding questions about the mind. Its core idea is that mental states are useful fictions. When we talk about mental states, we are not formulating hypotheses about people’s inner machinery. Instead, we simply talk "as if" people had certain inner states, such as beliefs or desires, in order to make sense of their behaviour. This is the first book dedicated to exploring mental fictionalism. Featuring contributions from established authors as well as up-and-coming scholars in this burgeoning field, the book reveals the exciting potential of a fictionalist approach to the mind, as well as the challenges it faces. In doing so, it offers a fresh perspective on foundational debates in the philosophy of mind, such as the nature of mental states and folk psychology, as well as hot topics in the field, such as embodied cognition and mental representation. Mental Fictionalism: Philosophical Explorations is essential reading for advanced undergraduates, postgraduates and professionals alike.

The Dynamical Systems Approach to Cognition

The Dynamical Systems Approach to Cognition PDF Author: Wolfgang Tschacher
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 981256439X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 345

Get Book Here

Book Description
The shared platform of the articles collected in this volume is usedto advocate a dynamical systems approach to cognition. It is arguedthat recent developments in cognitive science towards an account ofembodiment, together with the general approach of complexity theoryand dynamics, have a major impact on behavioral and cognitivescience.

Aquinas's Disputed Questions on Evil

Aquinas's Disputed Questions on Evil PDF Author: M. V. Dougherty
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107044340
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

Get Book Here

Book Description
This collection of specially commissioned new essays explores the philosophical issues and subjects of Aquinas's major work.

Representations

Representations PDF Author: Jerry A. Fodor
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262560275
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 357

Get Book Here

Book Description
These essays will shape discussion in the philosophy of psychology for years to come. A collection of eleven essays dealing with methodological and empirical issues in cognitive science and in the philosophy of mind, Representations convincingly connects philosophical speculation to concrete empirical research.One of the outstanding methodological issues dealt with is the status of functionalism considered as an alternative to behavioristic and physicalistic accounts. of mental states and properties. The other issue is the status of reductionism considered as an account of the relation between the psychological and physical sciences. The first chapters present the main lines of argument which have made functionalism the currently favored philosophical approach to ontology of the mental.The outlines of a psychology of propositional attitudes which emerges from consideration of current developments in cognitive science are contained in the remaining essays.Not all of these essays are re-presentations. The new introductory essay seeks to present an overview and gives some detailed proposals about the contribution that functionalism makes to the solutions of problems about intentionality. The concluding essay, also not previously published, is a sustained examination of the relation between theories about the structure of concepts and theories about how they are learned. Finally, the essay "Three cheers for propositional attitudes", a critical examination of some of D. C. Dennett's ideas, has been completely rewritten for this volume. A Bradford Book.