The Holism Argument against ‘Modern Philosophy of Mind’
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Halvor Nordby
Abstract
According to Jerry Fodor, a characteristic assumption of modern philosophy of mind is that the content of a person's concepts is individuated on the basis of the roles the concepts have. Fodor has instead argued that conceptual content merely depends on extension. The most influential argument for this atomism of conceptual content claims that since there is no analytic-synthetic distinction, a conceptual role theorist must accept that there is no principled distinction between content and not-content determining conceptual roles. But accepting this, the argument holds, forces the conceptual role theorist to accept global meaning holism, a consequence Fodor thinks is intolerable. I argue that Tyler Burge's social externalism represents an objection to the holism argument: social externalism can be understood as a conceptual role theory in the relevant sense. According to social externalism, there is no principled distinction between content and not-content determining conceptual roles in the sense relevant for the argument. Social externalism does not, however, imply global meaning holism.
© Philosophia Press 2006
Articles in the same Issue
- The Dialectic of Perspectivism, II
- Entitlements, good and bad
- Skepticism and the Role of Modest Transcendental Claims
- Justification: Reflexive and/or Discursive?
- The Holism Argument against ‘Modern Philosophy of Mind’
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- Hegels Erbe, Herausgegeben von Christoph Halbig, Michael Quante and Ludvig Siep. Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, 2004, 434 pp.
- Marcel Quarfood, Transcendental Idealism and the Organism: Essays on Kant. Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis – Stockholm Studies in Philosophy 26. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2004. 221 pp.
Articles in the same Issue
- The Dialectic of Perspectivism, II
- Entitlements, good and bad
- Skepticism and the Role of Modest Transcendental Claims
- Justification: Reflexive and/or Discursive?
- The Holism Argument against ‘Modern Philosophy of Mind’
- Emoting and Metaphoring. The Metaphoric Structure of Emotions
- Recognition and Redistribution – A Critical Comment to Nancy Fraser
- Hegels Erbe, Herausgegeben von Christoph Halbig, Michael Quante and Ludvig Siep. Suhrkamp Taschenbuch, 2004, 434 pp.
- Marcel Quarfood, Transcendental Idealism and the Organism: Essays on Kant. Acta Universitatis Stockholmiensis – Stockholm Studies in Philosophy 26. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell International, 2004. 221 pp.
