Conceptual Atomism and the Computational Theory of Mind

by John-Michael Kuczynski

2007 · John Benjamins Publishing

What is it to have a concept? What is it to make an inference? What is it to be rational? On the basis of recent developments in semantics, a number of authors have embraced answers to these questions that have radically counterintuitive consequences, for example: • One can rationally accept self-contradictory propositions (e.g. Smith is a composer and Smith is not a composer). • Psychological states are causally inert: beliefs and desires do nothing. • The mind cannot be understood in terms of folk-psychological concepts (e.g. belief, desire, intention). • One can have a single concept without having any others: an otherwise conceptless creature could grasp the concept of justice or of the number seven. • Thoughts are sentence-tokens, and thought-processes are driven by the syntactic, not the semantic, properties of those tokens. In the first half of Conceptual Atomism and the Computational Theory of Mind, John-Michael Kuczynski argues that these implausible but widely held views are direct consequences of a popular doctrine known as content-externalism, this being the view that the contents of one’s mental states are constitutively dependent on facts about the external world. Kuczynski shows that content-externalism involves a failure to distinguish between, on the one hand, what is literally meant by linguistic expressions and, on the other hand, the information that one must work through to compute the literal meanings of such expressions. The second half of the present work concerns the Computational Theory of Mind (CTM). Underlying CTM is an acceptance of conceptual atomism – the view that a creature can have a single concept without having any others – and also an acceptance of the view that concepts are not descriptive (i.e. that one can have a concept of a thing without knowing of any description that is satisfied by that thing). Kuczynski shows that both views are false, one reason being that they presuppose the truth of content-externalism, another being that they are incompatible with the epistemological anti-foundationalism proven correct by Wilfred Sellars and Laurence Bonjour. Kuczynski also shows that CTM involves a misunderstanding of terms such as “computation”, “syntax”, “algorithm” and “formal truth”; and he provides novel analyses of the concepts expressed by these terms. (Series A)

Waterloo: The Campaign of 1815, Volume 1

by John Hussey

2017 · Casemate Publishers

This, the fourth volume in Andrew Field's highly praised study of the Waterloo campaign from the French perspective, depicts in vivid detail the often neglected final phase the rout and retreat of Napoleon's army. The text is based exclusively on French eyewitness accounts which give an inside view of the immediate aftermath of the battle and carry the story through to the army's disbandment in late 1815. Many French officers and soldiers wrote more about the retreat than they did about the catastrophe of Waterloo itself. Their recollections give a fascinating insight to the psyche of the French soldier. They also provide a firsthand record of their experiences and the range of their reactions, from those who deserted the colors and made their way home, to those who continued to serve faithfully when all was lost. Napoleons own flight from Waterloo is an essential part of the narrative, but the main emphasis is on the fate of the beaten French army as it was experienced by eyewitnesses who lived through the last days of the campaign.

Annals of Tazewell County, Virginia from 1800 to 1922

by John Newton Harman

1922

Excerpt from Annals of Tazewell County, Virginia, From 1800 to 1922, Vol. 1 of 2: Part 1 Containing Records of Courts, Etc., From 1800 to 1852; Part 2 Containing a Republication of Bickley's History of the "Settlement and Indian Wars of Tazewell County," Published 1852 During several years we have been gathering information for the purpose of publishing a Genealogy of the Harman family of Southwest Virginia, and of related families. In pursuance of this purpose, we made inspection of records of the Land Office and the Public Library at Richmond; of the County Court Records of Frederick, Shenandoah, Rockingham, Augusta, Montgomery, Wythe, Smythe, Washington, Giles, Russell and Tazewell Counties. Later it occurred to us that a similar genealogy of other pioneer families of Tazewell County would be as interesting to their descendants as that of the Harmans and related families is to us. This led us to undertake the publication of the annals or taze well county from 1800 to 1922. We now present to the reader Volume One of the annals OF tazewell county from 1800 to 1852, which contains extracts from the court records during that period of general public interest and which are of special interest to the descendants of the pioneer families of the county.

So What

by John Szwed

2004 · Simon and Schuster

Based on interviews with family and friends, this account of the jazz great's life reveals the influence of Miles Davis' life on his work as well as the musician's persistent desire to re-invent himself.