Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T19:58:50.272Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Searle's Regimen for Rediscovering the Mind*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 April 2010

Jeffrey Hershfield
Affiliation:
Wichita State University

Extract

Like Wittgenstein, John Searle believes that much of analytic philosophy—especially the philosophy of mind—is founded on confusion and falsehood. Unlike Wittgenstein, he does not consider this condition to be endemic to philosophy. As a result, Searle's dual goals in The Rediscovery of the Mind are to rid the philosophy of mind of the fundamental confusions that plague it, and to set the field on the path toward genuine progress. Thus, the book opens with a chapter entitled “What's Wrong with the Philosophy of Mind?” and closes with “The Proper Study.” The text is a blend of old and new: Searle introduces several new ideas, the most important of which is his thesis of the unconscious, and incorporates them into theses that have figured prominently in his previous works. Even for those who will find little to agree with in this book, The Rediscovery of the Mind serves as a testament to the sheer scope and iconoclasm of Searle's work.

Type
Critical Notices/Études critiques
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Philosophical Association 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Armstrong, David. M. 1970 “The Nature of Mind.” In The Mind/Brain Identity Theory. Edited by Borst, C. V.. London: Macmillan, pp. 6789.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chomsky, Noam 1975 Reflections on Language. New York: Pantheon Press.Google Scholar
Chomsky, Noam 1986 Knowledge of Language: Its Nature, Origin, and Use. New York and Philadelphia: Praeger Special Studies.Google Scholar
Cummins, Robert 1989 Meaning and Mental Representation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books.Google Scholar
Daniel C., Dennett 1987 The Intentional Stance. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books.Google Scholar
Daniel C., Dennett 1988 “Quining Qualia.” In Consciousness in Contemporary Science. Edited by Marcel, A. and Bisiach, E.. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. 4277.Google Scholar
Jerry, Fodor. 1983 The Modularity of Mind. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press/Bradford Books.Google Scholar
David, Marr 1982 Vision. San Francisco: W. H. Freeman.Google Scholar
SchifferStephen, R. Stephen, R. 1987 “Reduction and the Explanatory Role of Content.” Unpublished manuscript, University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Searle, John R. 1980Minds, Brains, and Programs.” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 3, 417–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ludwig, Wittgenstein. 1953 Philosophical Investigations. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.Google Scholar