Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language
description
Transcript of Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language
![Page 1: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language
Barry SmithGraz, July 21, 2012http://x.co/mGgu
![Page 2: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
http://ontology.buffalo.edu/smith/book/austrian_philosophy/
![Page 3: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
Brentano and his students
Brentano
Meinong Ehrenfels Husserl Twardowski
![Page 4: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
![Page 5: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
Meinong Alley, Graz
![Page 6: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
Investigations in Ontology and
Psychology
with support from the Imperial-Royal Minister of Culture and Education in
Vienna, 1904
![Page 7: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
from 1874 to 1914 Brentano controls Austrian philosophy
BrentanoVienna
MeinongGraz
EhrenfelsPrague
TwardowskiLemberg
Husserl Proßnitz
![Page 8: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Brentano revolutionizes psychology
Brentanopublished Psychology
from an Empirical Standpoint, 1874
Meinong Ehrenfelsfounder of Gestalt psychology, 1890
Husserl Twardowski
Wundt first laboratory of
experimental psychology, 1879
![Page 9: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
![Page 10: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
Brentanists revolutionize ontology
Brentano
MeinongOn the Theory
of Objects, 1904
EhrenfelsHusserl
first formal mereology, 1902
______
first use of ‘formal ontology’
~1905;
Twardowski
Leśniewskilogical
formalization of mereology,
1916
![Page 11: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Brentanists revolutionize our understanding of the relations between psychology and
ontology
Brentano introduces in 1874 the idea of intentional directedness
(aboutness)
Meinong Ehrenfels Husserl Twardowski
how can we think about what does not exist?
![Page 12: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Brentanists revolutionize our understanding of the relations between psychology and
ontology
Brentano introduces in 1874 the idea of intentional directedness
(aboutness)
Meinong Ehrenfels Husserl Twardowski
Stefan Schulz famous contributor to
zoology of unicorns
![Page 13: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
15
the arrow of intentionality
![Page 14: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
Brentanists introduce the problem of understanding the relation between intentionality and language
Brentano
Meinong Ehrenfels Husserlcategorial
grammar, 1901
Twardowski
Leśniewskifounder of
formal mereology
Tarski invents formal
semantics
![Page 15: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
“From Intentionality to Formal Semantics”Brentano
Husserl Twardowski
Leśniewskiformal
mereology
Tarski formal
semantics
Joseph Woodger Axiomatic Method in
BiologyPatrick Hayes
“Ontology of Liquids”…
Description Logics, OWL …
![Page 16: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
The Logicians: Leśniewski, Tarski, Łukasiewicz, Twardowski Main Library of the University of Warsaw
![Page 17: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
Brentanists revolutionize our understanding of the relations between psychology and language
Brentano
Meinong EhrenfelsHusserl
two kinds of aboutness: relational
Twardowski
![Page 18: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
MFO Draft
![Page 19: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
MFO Draft
![Page 20: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
simple object-presenting acts vs. judgments, evaluations, …
mental process content (putative) target
presenting actcontent of presentation
“apple”object of presentation
judging act
judgment-content
“the apple over there is ripe”
state of affairsObjektive
evaluating actemotional act
appraisal…
“it is good that the apple over there is ripe”
?
![Page 21: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
mental process content (putative) target
presenting act content of presentation
“apple”object of presentation
targetpresent
targetabsent
• target present = you are in physical contact with target• successful intentionality• with evidence, without evidence
Successful intentionality
![Page 22: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
mental process content (putative) target
presenting act content of presentation
“apple”object of presentation
object exists
object does not exist
targetpresent
targetabsent
Veridical intentionality
ordinary perception
![Page 23: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
mental process content (putative) target
presenting act content of presentation
“apple”object of presentation
object exists
object does not exist
targetpresent
targetabsent
Veridical intentionality
veridical thinking about
![Page 24: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
mental process content (putative) target
presenting act content of presentation
“apple”
object of presentation
targetpresent
targetabsent
object exists
object does not exist
Non-veridical intentionality
non-veridical thinking about (error, hallucination, imagination, …)
![Page 25: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
mental process content (putative) target
presenting act content of presentation
“apple”object of presentation
object exists
object does not exist
targetpresent
targetabsent
Non-veridical intentionality
error, hallucination = the presenting act is dependent on an underlying false belief
![Page 26: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
mental process content (putative) target
presenting act content of presentation
“apple”object of presentation
object exists
object does not exist
targetpresent
targetabsent
Non-veridical intentionality
thinking about Macbeth = the presenting act is not dependent on an underlying false belief
![Page 27: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
mental process content (putative) target
presenting act content of presentation
“apple”object of presentation
object exists
object does not exist
targetpresent
targetabsent
An excluded case
this combination is impossible
![Page 28: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
mental process content (putative) target
presenting act content of presentation
“apple”object of presentation
object exists
object does not exist
targetpresent
targetabsent
Veridical intentionality
ordinary perceptionevolutionarily most basic case
![Page 29: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
content matches
“food”
![Page 30: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
content mismatches
“poison”
![Page 31: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
39
the primacy of language (Frege, Tarski …):
mental experiences are about objects because words have semantics
meaning
![Page 32: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
40
the primacy of the intentional (Brentano, Husserl, …): linguistic expressions have meanings because there are mental experiences which
have aboutness
![Page 33: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
content mismatches
“poison”
![Page 34: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
dimension of content / belief prior to dimension of language
![Page 35: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
![Page 36: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
![Page 37: Mental Functioning and the Ontology of Language](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062302/56816737550346895ddbe93f/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)