On Clear and Confused Ideas
Subtitle: An Essay about Substance Concepts (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy)
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: July 31, 2000
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 272
ISBN-13: 9780521625531
Subjects: Epistemology, theory of knowledge; Logic; Philosophy; Epistemology; History & Surveys - Modern; Philosophy / Epistemology; Philosophy / Logic; Philosophy-History & Surveys - Modern; General; Substance (Philosophy)
First sentence: One use of the word "concept" equates a concept with whatever it is one has to learn in order to use a certain word correctly.
Description: Written by one of today's most creative and innovative philosophers, Ruth Garrett Millikan, this book examines basic empirical concepts; how they are acquired, how they function, and how they have been misrepresented in the traditional philosophical literature. Millikan places cognitive psychology in an evolutionary context where human cognition is assumed to be an outgrowth of primitive forms of mentality, and assumed to have 'functions' in the biological sense. Of particular interest are her discussions of the nature of abilities as different from dispositions, her detailed analysis of the psychological act of reidentifying substances, and her critique of the language of thought for mental representation. In a radical departure from current philosophical and psychological theories of concepts, this book provides the first in-depth discussion on the psychological act of reidentification.