Millikan, Ruth Garrett

"Understanding intentionality is understanding what makes us different from mere mechanisms."

"Mental representations are maps - useful, but never perfect mirrors of reality."

"The content of thought depends on the thinker's place in the causal order."

"Consciousness allows us to represent possible futures, not just present circumstances."

"The unity of mental life remains one of the deepest puzzles in philosophy."

"Our concepts carve nature at its joints only when we get the causal history right."

"Intentionality without error would be mere mechanism."

"Living things are in the business of representing because representation aids survival."

"The naturalistic worldview gains explanatory power when properly applied to mind and meaning."

"A thought's content is determined not just by what is happening in the brain."

"We think most clearly about topics we have direct, embodied experience with."

"The structure of reality shapes the structure of our possible thoughts about it."

"Intentional content is a natural phenomenon, not a metaphysical mystery."

"Language learning demonstrates how external reality shapes internal representations."

"To think is to represent the world as being a certain way."

"False beliefs are still beliefs - they represent reality, just inaccurately."

"The evolution of cognition is the story of increasingly sophisticated representation."

"Understanding how children learn reveals how meaning is constructed through action."

"Mental states have their content determined partly by what caused them to develop."

"Intentionality is the bridge between mind and world that makes thought possible."

"The proper function of perception is to provide accurate information about the environment."

"We are not transparent to ourselves about what our thoughts mean."

"Biological systems solve the problem of representation through evolution and development."

"Culture extends human intentionality by creating stable systems of shared representation."

"A creature's concept of something is shaped by its interactive history with that thing."

"The mind is an organ of adaptation, not contemplation alone."

"Meaning is not intrinsic to symbols - it comes from how symbols connect to the world."

"Understanding ourselves requires understanding how evolution has shaped what we can think."

"Intentional realism is the view that our thoughts can genuinely represent reality."

"The intentional stance is useful, but intentionality has a natural, biological basis."