Jerry Fodor

Jerry Fodor was a prominent philosopher and cognitive scientist known for his work on the nature of the mind and language. He argued against physicalism, the idea that everything, including the mind, can be fully explained by physical processes. Fodor championed the notion of mental representations, suggesting that our thoughts function like mental symbols with meaning, contributing to the understanding of intentionality—how mental states refer to things. He also explored mental causation, questioning how thoughts can influence actions if they aren’t wholly reducible to physical brain states. Fodor's ideas significantly shaped debates in philosophy of mind and cognitive science.