books by Ruth Garrett Millikan (psychology biological substance)

books by Ruth Garrett Millikan

books:

Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories: New Foundations for Realism

2 reviews
Ruth Garrett Millikan

The MIT Press, 1987

defines "function" in a non-circular way
The book explains why the reproduction of tools, actions, adaptations and habits can matter separately from single instances of use, without referring to any specialized internal mechanisms, as Fodor or Chomsky might require. It thus throws an enormous weight of exemplary philosophical junk (Dennett might claim most of the literature on free will goes here) in the dumpster, by showing that a ...

White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice (Bradford Books)
Ruth Garrett Millikan

The MIT Press, 1995

This collection of essays serves both as an introduction to Ruth Millikan's much-discussed volume Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories and as an extension and application of Millikan's central themes, especially in the philosophy of psychology. The title essay discusses meaning rationalism and argues that rationality is not in the head, indeed, that there is no legitimate interpretation under which logical possibility and ...

Language: A Biological Model

1 review
Ruth Garrett Millikan

Oxford University Press, USA, 2005

Essential Millikan
I read this in rough draft posted online at her webpage. Ruth Millikan continues to be the most interesting person working in philosophy of language (and mind, and biology, and, and...) today. An especially interesting feature of this book is her first published account of where she and Brandom differ. First-rate stuff from one of the best living American philosophers.

Varieties of Meaning: The 2002 Jean Nicod Lectures
Ruth Garrett Millikan

The MIT Press, 2006

Many different things are said to have meaning: people mean to do various things; tools and other artifacts are meant for various things; people mean various things by using words and sentences; natural signs mean things; representations in people's minds also presumably mean things. In Varieties of Meaning , Ruth Garrett Millikan argues that these different kinds of meaning can be understood only in relation to each other. What does ...

On Clear and Confused Ideas: An Essay about Substance Concepts (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy)
Ruth Garrett Millikan

Cambridge University Press, 2000

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. ...