Language, Thought and Consciousness

An Essay in Philosophical Psychology

By: Peter Carruthers

Write A Review

Paperback | 20 April 1998

At a Glance

Paperback
308 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.86 x 15.24 x 1.75

Paperback

RRP $75.95

$71.40

or 4 interest-free payments of $17.85 with

Aims to ship in 7 to 10 business days

Do we think in natural language? Or is language only for communication? Much recent work in philosophy and cognitive science assumes the latter. In contrast, Peter Carruthers argues that much of human conscious thinking is conducted in the medium of natural language sentences. However, this does not commit him to any sort of Whorfian linguistic relativism, and the view is developed within a framework that is broadly nativist and modularist. His study will be essential reading for all those interested in the nature and significance of natural language, whether they come from philosophy, psychology or linguistics.

Industry Reviews

' ... a book crammed with penetrating observations and good arguments. Few readers will fail to learn something from it, and none will be disappointed.' Times Literary Supplement

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.

Defective items

If there is a problem with any of the items received for your order then the Booktopia Customer Care team is ready to assist you.

For more info please visit our Help Centre.

You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Philosophy Philosophy of The Mind Social & Political Philosophy Psychology Cognition & Cognitive Psychology Language & Linguistics Linguistics Philosophy of Language Philosophy & Logic History of Western Philosophy Medieval & Renaissance Philosophy

Preface	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
The geography of the issues	p. 9
Conceptual versus natural modality	p. 9
Implications for philosophy and psychology	p. 13
Of wolves and wolf-children	p. 16
Stalnaker's intelligent Martians	p. 20
Anti-realist arguments	p. 22
Realism in mind	p. 25
Innateness and theory of mind	p. 29
Thinking: images or sentences?	p. 31
Which language do we think with?	p. 40
The evidence from scientific psychology	p. 40
The evidence of introspection: images and imaged sentences	p. 49
The scope and strength of the introspective thesis	p. 52
Objections and elucidations	p. 55
Fallible introspection and Fodor	p. 60
Individuating propositional attitudes	p. 62
Animals and infants	p. 65
Language-learning and sub-personal thought	p. 67
Thought-based semantics	p. 73
The argument from foreign believers	p. 73
Grice's thought-based semantics	p. 76
Two objections	p. 78
Searle's version of thought-based semantics	p. 83
A marriage of Searle and Fodor?	p. 85
Causal co-variance theories	p. 88
Misrepresentation, and asymmetric causal dependence	p. 91
The all Ss problem	p. 96
Holism and language	p. 103
From mental realism to Mentalese	p. 103
The demand for scientific vindication	p. 105
The problem of holism	p. 107
Between holism and atomism	p. 111
Arguments for holism	p. 114
The need for a language-based semantics	p. 120
Language-based semantics 1: functional-role semantics	p. 123
Language-based semantics 2: canonical acceptance conditions	p. 127
First steps towards a theory of consciousness	p. 133
Retrospect: the need for a theory of consciousness	p. 133
Conscious versus non-conscious mental states	p. 135
Cartesian consciousness	p. 140
Why Cartesianism won't do	p. 143
What kind of theory do we want?	p. 147
Kirk: presence to central decision-making	p. 150
Higher-order discrimination and feel	p. 154
The case for higher-order thought theory	p. 157
Second (-order) steps towards a theory of consciousness	p. 164
Theory 1: actual and conscious	p. 164
Theory 2: actual and non-conscious	p. 166
Theory 3: potential and non-conscious	p. 170
Theory 4: potential and conscious	p. 174
Dennett 1978: availability to print-out	p. 176
Dennett 1991: multiple drafts and probes	p. 178
Time and indeterminacy	p. 183
Dennett on the place of language in thought	p. 187
A reflexive thinking theory of consciousness	p. 194
Reflexive thinking theory	p. 194
Contrasts and advantages	p. 198
Conscious versus non-conscious thinking	p. 201
Objections and elucidations	p. 204
The problem of unity	p. 208
The problem of phenomenal feel	p. 212
A Cartesian Theatre?	p. 217
Animals and infants revisited	p. 220
The involvement of language in conscious thinking	p. 225
An architecture for human thinking	p. 225
An evolutionary story	p. 231
The argument from introspection revisited	p. 234
Working memory and the central executive	p. 245
The thesis of natural necessity (weak)	p. 251
Objections and elucidations	p. 259
The thesis of natural necessity (strong)	p. 263
The scope and significance of NN	p. 269
Conclusion	p. 277
References	p. 280
Index	p. 287
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

Language, Thought and Consciousness

An Essay in Philosophical Psychology

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

More in Linguistics

Bringing Words to Life

Robust Vocabulary Instruction 2nd Edition

Language, Literacy and Early Childhood Education

4th Edition

Oxford Study Indonesian Dictionary

2nd Edition

Robust Comprehension Instruction with Questioning the Author

15 Years Smarter

Auslan Alphabet

The Wiggles Emma

Australian Slang

A fun dictionary and funny gift idea for Aussies and visitors

Ultimate Scrabble Dictionary and Word List

5th Edition - All the Official Playable Words, Plus Tips and Strategy

Collins Spanish Dictionary Essential Edition

60,000 Translations For Everyday Use

Collins Easy Learning Complete French Grammar, Verbs and Vocabulary (3 Books In 1) [2nd Edition]

Collins Easy Learning French

The Writing Rope

A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects

The Writing Revolution

A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades

Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish

The Reading Comprehension Blueprint

Helping Students Make Meaning from Text

Easy Spanish Step-By-Step

Master High-frequency Grammar for Spanish Proficiency - Fast!

Trolling Before the Internet

An Offline History of Insult, Provocation, and Public Humiliation in the Literary Classics

Language Teacher Education Beyond Borders

Multilingualism, Transculturalism, and Critical Approaches

Political Speech as a Weapon

Microaggression in a Changing Racial and Ethnic Environment

Second Language Teacher Education

A Cognitive and Evidence-Based Perspective

Second Language Teacher Education

A Cognitive and Evidence-Based Perspective

Overhauling Learning for Multilingual Students

An Approach for Achieving Pedagogical Justice

Multimodal Approaches to Healthcare Communication Research

Visualising Interactions for Resilient Healthcare in the UK and Japan

The Metaphysics of Existence and Nonexistence

Actualism, Meinongianism, and Predication

News Literacy Across the Undergraduate Curriculum

Collins Pocket Italian Dictionary [Eighth Edition]

40,000 Words and Phrases in a Portable Format

This product is categorised by