Articles
Published 2018-11-01
Keywords
- Predication,
- Propositional Structure,
- Deductive Inference,
- Non- Propositional Structure
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Abstract
In “Steps toward Origins of Propositional Thought”, Burge claims that animals of different species are capable of making deductive inferences. According to Burge, that is why propositional thought is extended beyond the human mind to the minds of other kinds of creatures. But, as I argue here, the inferential capacities of animals do not guarantee a propositional structure. According to my argument, propositional content has predicates that might involve a quantificational structure. And the absence of this structure in animal thought might explain some of the differences with the propositional content of human thought.
References
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Amici, F., Barney, B., Johnson, V. E., Call, J. and Aureli, F. (2012), “A Modular Mind? A Test Using Individual Data from Seven Primate Species”, Plos One, 7 (12), pp. 1-9.
Barceló Aspeitia, A. A., Eraña, Á. and Stainton, R. (2010), “The Contribution of Domain Specificity in the Highly Modular Mind”, Minds & Machines, 20, pp. 19-27.
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Burge, T. (2010c), Origins of Objectivity, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Call, J. (2006), “Inference by Exclusion in the Great Apes: the Effect of Age and Species”, Animal Cognition, 9, pp. 393-403.
Call, J. (2007), “Apes Know that Hidden Objects Can Affect the Orientation of other Objects”, Cognition, 105, pp. 1-25.
Camp, E. (2004), “The Generality Constraint and Categorial Restrictions”, The Philosophical Quarterly, 54 (215), pp. 209-231.
Camp, E. (2009), “Putting Thoughts to Work: Concepts, Systematicity, and Stimulus-Independence”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 78, pp. 275-311.
Camp, E. (2015), “Logical Concepts and Associative Characterizations”, in Margolis, E. (ed.), The Conceptual Mind: New Directions in the Study of Concepts, Cambridge, The MIT Press.
Carey, S. (2009), The Origin of Concepts, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Carruthers, P. (2006), The Architecture of the Mind: Massive Modularity and the Flexibility of Thought, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Carruthers, P. (2009), “Invertebrate Concepts Confront the Generality Constraint (and Win)”, in Lurz, R. (ed.), Philosophy of Animal Minds, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 89-107.
Casati, R. and Varzi, A. C. (1999), Parts and Places: The Structures of Spatial Representation, Cambridge, The MIT Press.
Cheney, D. and Seyfarth, R. (1985), “Social and Non-social Knowledge in Vervet Monkeys”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 308, pp. 187-201.
Cheney, D., and Seyfarth, R. (1990), How Monkeys See the World, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Cosmides, L. and Tooby, J. (1994), “Origins of Domain Specificity: The Evolution of Functional Organization”, in Hirschfeld, L. A. and
Gelman, S. A. (eds.), Mapping the Mind: Domain Specificity in Cognition and Culture, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Evans, G. (1982), The Varieties of Reference, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Fodor, J. (2008), The Language of Thought Revisited, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Gibson, M. I. (2004), From Naming to Saying: The Unity of the Proposition, Oxford, Blackwell.
Hurley, S. (2001), “Overintellectualizing the Mind”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 63 (2), pp. 423-431.
Hurley, S. (2003), “Animal Action in the Space of Reasons”, Mind and Language, 18, pp. 231-256.
Khalidi, M. A. (2010), “What Is Domain Specificity (and Why Does It Matter)?”, in Ohlsson, S. and Catrambone, R. (eds.), Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Austin, Cognitive Science Society, pp. 194-199.
King, J. (1996), “Structured Propositions and Sentence Structure”, Journal of Philosophical Logic, 25 (5), pp. 495-521.
Millikan, R. (2007), “Reply to Bermúdez”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 75 (3), pp. 670-673.
Peacocke, C. (1992), A Study of Concepts, Cambridge, The MIT Press.
Premack, D. (2007), “Human and Animal Cognition: Continuity and Discontinuity”, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci., 104 (13), pp. 861-867.
Premack, D. (2010), “Why Humans Are Unique: Three Theories”, Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 5, 22-32.
Quine, W. V. (1953), From a Logical Point of View, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Rescorla, M. (2009), “Predication and Cartographic Representation”, Synthese, 169, pp. 175-179.
Russell, B. (1918), “The Philosophy of Logical Atomism”, Monist. Reprinted in Logic and Knowledge London, Unwin Hyman, 1956.
Santos, L. R., Hauser, M. D. and Spelke, E. S. (2002), “Domain-specific Knowledge in Human Children and Non-Human Primates: Artifacts and Foods”, in Bekoff, M., Allen, C. and Burghardt, G. M. (eds.), The Cognitive Animal: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition, Cambridge, The MIT Press, pp. 205-216.
Shettleworth, S. J. (2012), “Modularity, Comparative Cognition and Human Uniqueness”, Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 367 (1603), pp. 2794-2802.
Amici, F., Barney, B., Johnson, V. E., Call, J. and Aureli, F. (2012), “A Modular Mind? A Test Using Individual Data from Seven Primate Species”, Plos One, 7 (12), pp. 1-9.
Barceló Aspeitia, A. A., Eraña, Á. and Stainton, R. (2010), “The Contribution of Domain Specificity in the Highly Modular Mind”, Minds & Machines, 20, pp. 19-27.
Beck, J. (2012), “The Generality Constraint and the Structure of Thought”, Mind, 121, pp. 563-600.
Beck, J. (2013), “Why We Can’t Say What Animals Think”, Philosophical Psychology, 26 (4), pp. 520-546.
Bermúdez, J. L. (2006), “Animal Reasoning and Proto-Logic”, in Hurley, S. L. y Nudds, M. (eds.), Rational Animals?, Oxford, Oxford University Press, pp. 127-137.
Bermúdez, J. L. (2007), “Negation, Contrariety, and Practical Reasoning: Comments on Millikan’s Varieties of Meaning”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 75 (3), pp. 664-669.
Bermúdez, J. L. (1998), The Paradox of Self Consciousness, Cambridge, The MIT Press.
Burge, T. (2010a), “Origins of Perception”, Disputatio, IV (29), pp. 1-38.
Burge, T. (2010b), “Steps toward Origins of Propositional Thought”, Disputatio, IV (29), pp. 39-67.
Burge, T. (2010c), Origins of Objectivity, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Call, J. (2006), “Inference by Exclusion in the Great Apes: the Effect of Age and Species”, Animal Cognition, 9, pp. 393-403.
Call, J. (2007), “Apes Know that Hidden Objects Can Affect the Orientation of other Objects”, Cognition, 105, pp. 1-25.
Camp, E. (2004), “The Generality Constraint and Categorial Restrictions”, The Philosophical Quarterly, 54 (215), pp. 209-231.
Camp, E. (2009), “Putting Thoughts to Work: Concepts, Systematicity, and Stimulus-Independence”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 78, pp. 275-311.
Camp, E. (2015), “Logical Concepts and Associative Characterizations”, in Margolis, E. (ed.), The Conceptual Mind: New Directions in the Study of Concepts, Cambridge, The MIT Press.
Carey, S. (2009), The Origin of Concepts, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Carruthers, P. (2006), The Architecture of the Mind: Massive Modularity and the Flexibility of Thought, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Carruthers, P. (2009), “Invertebrate Concepts Confront the Generality Constraint (and Win)”, in Lurz, R. (ed.), Philosophy of Animal Minds, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 89-107.
Casati, R. and Varzi, A. C. (1999), Parts and Places: The Structures of Spatial Representation, Cambridge, The MIT Press.
Cheney, D. and Seyfarth, R. (1985), “Social and Non-social Knowledge in Vervet Monkeys”, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 308, pp. 187-201.
Cheney, D., and Seyfarth, R. (1990), How Monkeys See the World, Chicago, University of Chicago Press.
Cosmides, L. and Tooby, J. (1994), “Origins of Domain Specificity: The Evolution of Functional Organization”, in Hirschfeld, L. A. and
Gelman, S. A. (eds.), Mapping the Mind: Domain Specificity in Cognition and Culture, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Evans, G. (1982), The Varieties of Reference, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Fodor, J. (2008), The Language of Thought Revisited, Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Gibson, M. I. (2004), From Naming to Saying: The Unity of the Proposition, Oxford, Blackwell.
Hurley, S. (2001), “Overintellectualizing the Mind”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 63 (2), pp. 423-431.
Hurley, S. (2003), “Animal Action in the Space of Reasons”, Mind and Language, 18, pp. 231-256.
Khalidi, M. A. (2010), “What Is Domain Specificity (and Why Does It Matter)?”, in Ohlsson, S. and Catrambone, R. (eds.), Proceedings of the 32nd Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, Austin, Cognitive Science Society, pp. 194-199.
King, J. (1996), “Structured Propositions and Sentence Structure”, Journal of Philosophical Logic, 25 (5), pp. 495-521.
Millikan, R. (2007), “Reply to Bermúdez”, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 75 (3), pp. 670-673.
Peacocke, C. (1992), A Study of Concepts, Cambridge, The MIT Press.
Premack, D. (2007), “Human and Animal Cognition: Continuity and Discontinuity”, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci., 104 (13), pp. 861-867.
Premack, D. (2010), “Why Humans Are Unique: Three Theories”, Perspect. Psychol. Sci. 5, 22-32.
Quine, W. V. (1953), From a Logical Point of View, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Rescorla, M. (2009), “Predication and Cartographic Representation”, Synthese, 169, pp. 175-179.
Russell, B. (1918), “The Philosophy of Logical Atomism”, Monist. Reprinted in Logic and Knowledge London, Unwin Hyman, 1956.
Santos, L. R., Hauser, M. D. and Spelke, E. S. (2002), “Domain-specific Knowledge in Human Children and Non-Human Primates: Artifacts and Foods”, in Bekoff, M., Allen, C. and Burghardt, G. M. (eds.), The Cognitive Animal: Empirical and Theoretical Perspectives on Animal Cognition, Cambridge, The MIT Press, pp. 205-216.
Shettleworth, S. J. (2012), “Modularity, Comparative Cognition and Human Uniqueness”, Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences, 367 (1603), pp. 2794-2802.