Representational Content and the Objects of Thought - Paperback
by Nicholas Rimell (Author)
This book defends a novel view of mental representation--of how, as thinkers, we represent the world as being. The book serves as a response to two problems in the philosophy of mind. One is the problem of first-personal, or egocentric, belief: how can we have truly first personal beliefs--beliefs in which we think about ourselves as ourselves--given that beliefs are supposed to be attitudes towards propositions and that propositions are supposed to have their truth values independent of a perspective?
The other problem is how we can think about nonexistents (e.g., Santa Claus) given the widespread view that thought essentially involves a relation between a thinker and whatever is being thought about. The standard responses to this puzzle are either to deny that thought is essentially relational or to insist that it is possible to stand in relations to nonexistents. This book offers an error theory to the problem.The responses from this book arise from the same commitment: a commitment to treating talk of propositions--as the things towards which our beliefs are attitudes--as talk of entities that actually exist and that play a constitutive and explanatory role in the activity of thought.
It is commonly held that our beliefs are attitudes towards propositions, and that a belief's truth value (true or false) depends on the truth value of the proposition toward which it is an attitude. From this plausible view Rimell builds a theory of mental representation with two striking features. First, our "I" beliefs have private content--content that only a single subject can entertain. Second, it is impossible to think about nonexistents (e.g., Santa Claus, the fountain of youth). In light of the latter claim, Rimell offers an error theory meant to explain what we are doing when we think we're thinking about nonexistents. To non-specialists, this book serves as a clear, careful introduction to central questions at the intersection of metaphysics, the philosophy of language, and the philosophy of mind: Are thought and meaning entirely in the head? What's special about first-personal thought and speech? How (if at all) can we think about nonexistents, given that prima facie thinking involves a relation between a subject and an object of thought? To specialists, this book is designed to challenge the standard ways of thinking about these questions and to offer a unified response to them.
Nicholas Rimell is a lecturer in philosophy at the School of Philosophy and Sociology at Jilin University (Changchun, China). His research is in metaphysics and philosophy of mind, as well as philosophy of language and ethics. He is especially interested in where these areas of philosophy come together.
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