Ruth Garrett Millikan's Books

Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

New Foundations for Realism

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

New Foundations for Realism

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

Beginning with a general theory of function applied to body organs, behaviors, customs, and both inner and outer representations, Ruth Millikan argues that the intentionality of language can be described without reference to speaker intentions and that an understanding of the intentionality of thought can and should be divorced from the problem of understanding consciousness. The results support a realist theory of truth and of universals, and open the way for a nonfoundationalist and nonholistic approach to epistemology. A Bradford Book

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372

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MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262631156

ISBN 13

9780262631150

Beyond Concepts

Unicepts, Language, and Natural Information

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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Beyond Concepts

Unicepts, Language, and Natural Information

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

Ruth Garrett Millikan presents a highly original account of cognition - of how we get to grips with the world in thought. The question at the heart of her book is Kant's 'How is knowledge possible?', but answered from a contemporary naturalist standpoint. The starting assumption is that we are evolved creatures that use cognition as a guide in dealing with the natural world, and that the natural world is roughly as natural science has tried to describe it. Very unlike Kant, then, we must begin with ontology, with a rough understanding of what the world is like prior to cognition, only later developing theories about the nature of cognition within that world and how it manages to reflect the rest of nature. And in trying to get from ontology to cognition we must traverse another non-Kantian domain: questions about the transmission of information both through natural signs and through purposeful signs including, especially, language. Millikan makes a number of innovations. Central to the book is her introduction of the ideas of unitrackers and unicepts, whose job is to recognize the same again as manifested through the jargon of experience. She offers a direct reference theory for common nouns and other extensional terms; a naturalist sketch of conceptual development; a theory of natural information and of language function that shows how properly functioning language carries natural information; a novel description of the semantics/pragmatics distinction; a discussion of perception as translation from natural informational signs; new descriptions of indexicals, demonstratives and intensional contexts; and a new analysis of the reference of incomplete descriptions.

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249

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198717199

ISBN 13

9780198717195

White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

Ruth Millikan's extended argument for a biological view of the study of cognition in Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories caught the attention of the philosophical community. Universally regarded as an important, even brilliant, work, its complexity and dense presentation made it difficult to plumb. This collection of essays serves both as an introduction to that much discussed volume and as an extension and application of Millikan's central and controversial themes, especially in the philosophy of psychology. The title essay, referring to the White Queen's practice of exercising her mind by believing impossible things, discusses meaning rationalism and argues that rationality is not in the head, indeed, that there is no legitimate interpretation under which logical possibility and necessity are known a priori. Nor are there any laws of rational psychology. Rationality is not a lawful occurrence but a biological norm that is effected in an integrated head-world system under biologically ideal conditions. In other essays, Millikan clarifies her views on the nature of mental representation, explores whether human thought is a product of natural selection, examines the nature of behavior as studied by the behavioral sciences, and discusses the issues of individualism in psychology, psychological explanation, indexicality in thought, what knowledge is, and the realism/antirealism debate.

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387

Publisher

Bradford Book

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262631628

ISBN 13

9780262631624

Language

A Biological Model

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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Language

A Biological Model

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

Ruth Millikan presents a radically different way of viewing the partial regularities that language displays, the norms and conventions of language. The central norms applying to language, like those norms of function and behaviour that account for the survival and proliferation of biological traits, are non-evaluative norms. Specific linguistic forms survive and are reproduced together with co-operative hearer responses because, in a critical mass of cases, these patterns of production and response benefit both speakers and hearers. Conformity is needed only often enough to ensure that the co-operative use constituting the norm - the convention - continues to be copied and hence continues to characterize some interactions of some speaker-hearer pairs."--BOOK JACKET

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244

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199284776

ISBN 13

9780199284771

Varieties of Meaning

The 2002 Jean Nicod Lectures

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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Varieties of Meaning

The 2002 Jean Nicod Lectures

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

How the various things that are said to have meaning -- purpose, natural signs, linguistic signs, perceptions, and thoughts -- are related to one another.

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262

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MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262134446

ISBN 13

9780262134446

Varieties of Meaning

The 2002 Jean Nicod Lectures

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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Varieties of Meaning

The 2002 Jean Nicod Lectures

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

How the various things that are said to have meaning -- purpose, natural signs, linguistic signs, perceptions, and thoughts -- are related to one another.

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262

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MIT Press

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ISBN 10

0262134446

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9780262134446

Language

A Biological Model

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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Language

A Biological Model

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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244

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0199284776

ISBN 13

9780199284771

Beyond Concepts

Unicepts, Language, and Natural Information

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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Beyond Concepts

Unicepts, Language, and Natural Information

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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249

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Oxford University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0198717199

ISBN 13

9780198717195

Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

New Foundations for Realism

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

New Foundations for Realism

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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372

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MIT Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0262631156

ISBN 13

9780262631150

On Clear and Confused Ideas

An Essay about Substance Concepts

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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On Clear and Confused Ideas

An Essay about Substance Concepts

By: Ruth Garrett Millikan

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. 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. It will be of interest to a broad range of students of philosophy, especially those interested in the application of evolutionary theory to analytic philosophy.

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274

Publisher

Cambridge University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0521623863

ISBN 13

9780521623865

Book's by Ruth Garrett Millikan

Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

Beyond Concepts

Beyond Concepts

White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice

White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice

Language

Language

Varieties of Meaning

Varieties of Meaning

Varieties of Meaning

Varieties of Meaning

Language

Language

Beyond Concepts

Beyond Concepts

Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories

On Clear and Confused Ideas

On Clear and Confused Ideas

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