Philosophy Quotes

"The syntax of thought determines what thoughts are possible; semantics determines which are true."

"If you deny intentionality, you deny the possibility of thought itself."

"The question isn't whether mind is physical, but what physical systems realize minds."

"The mind is systematic - you can't believe one thing without being committed to many others."

"Concepts are not mental objects - they're capacities to think about kinds of things."

"The mystery of consciousness dissolves when you understand what mental representation involves."

"We construct the world in thought, but we don't construct the world itself."

"If you want to know what something is, ask what it does - that's the functionalist insight."

"Philosophy of mind is methodology applied to the most difficult subject matter possible."

"Thinking is a kind of computation, but computation is abstract - it doesn't depend on any particular medium."

"Intentionality is not a minor feature of mental states - it's what makes them mental."

"Mental representation is the solution to the binding problem, not the problem itself."

"If thoughts are computational states, then they have syntax but acquire semantics from the world."

"Philosophy of mind is continuous with empirical science once you ask the right questions."

"Mental representation is how finite minds grasp infinite possibilities."

"The concept of a person is not to be analysed in terms of the concept of an animated body or of a animated organism."

"We must give an account of the concept of a person as a primitive concept."

"The structure of our thought is not independent of the structure of our language."

"Persons are not to be confused with human organisms or bodies."

"Reference and prediction are not independent of the descriptive apparatus we employ."

"The world as we conceive it is not independent of our conceptual schemes."

"Objects do not have intrinsic boundaries; boundaries are imposed by our conceptual interests."

"The notion of an individual substance is fundamental to our ontology."

"Metaphysics must be responsive to the structure of our actual language."

"Persons possess both material and non-material properties."

"Experience and thought are shaped by our ordinary conceptual apparatus."

"Our concepts reflect the structure of the world as we interact with it."

"Language is not a mirror of reality but a tool for engaging with it."

"Persons are the fundamental units of moral and social thought."

"The world we know is the world as conceptualized by beings like us."