# Talk:Jerry Fodor

Fiona Cowey's book, WHAT'S WITHIN (1999), was largely aimed at reviving old-school empiricism of the Lockean sort. I'm simplifying greatly, but she saw Fodor and Chomsky as the chief rationalist innatist threats to her neo-Lockean project and devoted much of the book to a sweeping assault on Fodor in particular. It inspired a lengthy retort from Fodor, sharply worded enough to excite a stir in academia at the time. 
https://ruccs.rutgers.edu/jerry/26-personal-sites/jerry-fodor/277-doing-without-what-s-within-fiona-cowie-s-critique-of-nativism I find it very odd that none of this is mentioned. I inserted a few words under "Criticism" in this article, but it was reverted. I'm not sure why, but perhaps it needs further development. Volunteers? Ideas? --Christofurio (talk) 19:46, 18 September 2018 (UTC)
Cowie, BTW, is a professor at the California Institute of Technology. Her critique of contemporary innatists began life as a PhD dissertation.

Better late than never, I guess. I've added a brief section on Fodor vs Cowie. At least it's there and properly cited. Plenty of scope for others to extend it. Oh, and Fiona Cowie's now bluelinked. Chiswick Chap (talk) 14:35, 9 February 2025 (UTC)

I am concerned that this article no longer meets the good article criteria. Some of my concerns are outlined below:

There are lots of uncited statements, including entire paragraphs.
There's not much information about his academic career or personal life.
There are some questionable sources, like ref 36: whyevolutionistrue.com
Is anyone willing to address these concerns, or should this go to WP:GAR? Z1720 (talk) 03:39, 23 December 2024 (UTC)


### Jerry Fodor