Abstract
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 129-132 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Comparative Philosophy |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 1 |
Publication status | Published - 30 Jan 2017 |
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Keywords
- content individuation
- content realization
- extended Connection Principle
- holistic discursive practice
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Content individuation and evolutionary content emergence. / ZHENG, Yujian.
In: Comparative Philosophy, Vol. 8, No. 1, 30.01.2017, p. 129-132.Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed)
TY - JOUR
T1 - Content individuation and evolutionary content emergence
AU - ZHENG, Yujian
PY - 2017/1/30
Y1 - 2017/1/30
N2 - This short paper addresses two connected issues which were brought to some focused light by Searle’s comments on my contributed article to the anthology Searle’s philosophy and Chinese Philosophy: Constructive Engagement. The first issue concerns the claim that animals cannot have observer-independent intentional content of the same type as that of human beings. The second is my denial that mental content can be merely caused in specific brain states, given its holistic and normative character. I defend my position on the second issue by distinguishing content individuation from content realization while I elaborate my relatively more sophisticated argument for the first claim by clarifying two related senses or levels of ‘content’ and ‘self’, respectively associated with certain quasi-rational capacities from a third-person perspective and the subjective holistic consciousness from a firstperson perspective with the explicit social-discursive dimension. Searle’s Connection Principle is briefly drawn on in this context, with an eye to showing its potential significance when it is extended into the evolutionary settings. In short, it is the fullblown rationality of human holistic discursive practice that ultimately grounds the content talk, which then becomes meaningfully ascribable to certain natural forms of animal existence.
AB - This short paper addresses two connected issues which were brought to some focused light by Searle’s comments on my contributed article to the anthology Searle’s philosophy and Chinese Philosophy: Constructive Engagement. The first issue concerns the claim that animals cannot have observer-independent intentional content of the same type as that of human beings. The second is my denial that mental content can be merely caused in specific brain states, given its holistic and normative character. I defend my position on the second issue by distinguishing content individuation from content realization while I elaborate my relatively more sophisticated argument for the first claim by clarifying two related senses or levels of ‘content’ and ‘self’, respectively associated with certain quasi-rational capacities from a third-person perspective and the subjective holistic consciousness from a firstperson perspective with the explicit social-discursive dimension. Searle’s Connection Principle is briefly drawn on in this context, with an eye to showing its potential significance when it is extended into the evolutionary settings. In short, it is the fullblown rationality of human holistic discursive practice that ultimately grounds the content talk, which then becomes meaningfully ascribable to certain natural forms of animal existence.
KW - content individuation
KW - content realization
KW - extended Connection Principle
KW - holistic discursive practice
UR - http://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/comparativephilosophy/vol8/iss1/13/
UR - http://commons.ln.edu.hk/sw_master/7168
M3 - Journal Article (refereed)
VL - 8
SP - 129
EP - 132
JO - Comparative Philosophy
JF - Comparative Philosophy
SN - 2151-6014
IS - 1
ER -