PHILOS 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Mind, Direct And Indirect Realism, Intentionality
Document Summary
Propositions, names thoughts, mental images, all refer to something. All theory of reference is about the nature of referential relationship. Putnam is presenting his argument on the basis of "mentalism", which is a view that psychological phenomena are ultimately explained by the mind of an individual agent or a group of agents. A linguistic symbol has its meaning (or refers to something) in virtue of the human linguistic convention (and individuals" intentionality) A painting has its meaning (or refers to somethings) in virtue of the painter"s intentionality. My mental image of tree refers to a tree, my mental image of tree is about a tree, my mental image of tree means a tree, the content of my mental image of tree is a tree. A theory of reference and a theory of content/meaning are closely related. Is the alien"s mental image of tree about a tree. Trees do not exist where the alien"s live, they look at a picture and.
