Jerry Fodor

Jerry_Fodor

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Jerry Fodor

Jerry Alan Fodor (April 22, 1935 – November 29, 2017) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. He was one of the most influential philosophers of mind in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Fodor is best known for his work on the modularity of mind, the language of thought hypothesis, and his critiques of connectionism.

Early Life and Education

Fodor was born in New York City. He received his bachelor's degree from Columbia University in 1956 and his Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1960. His dissertation was supervised by Hilary Putnam.

Academic Career

Fodor began his teaching career at MIT, where he taught from 1959 to 1986. He then moved to the City University of New York and later to Rutgers University, where he was a professor of philosophy and cognitive science.

Philosophical Contributions

Modularity of Mind

Fodor's theory of the modularity of mind suggests that the mind is composed of innate, domain-specific processing modules. This theory was detailed in his 1983 book, The Modularity of Mind.

Language of Thought Hypothesis

Fodor proposed the language of thought hypothesis (LOTH), which posits that thought takes place within a mental language, often referred to as "Mentalese." This hypothesis was first introduced in his 1975 book, The Language of Thought.

Critiques of Connectionism

Fodor was a vocal critic of connectionism, a theory in cognitive science that models mental or behavioral phenomena as the emergent processes of interconnected networks of simple units. He argued that connectionist models could not adequately explain the systematic nature of human thought.

Major Works

• The Language of Thought (1975)
• The Modularity of Mind (1983)
• Psychosemantics (1987)
• The Elm and the Expert (1994)
• In Critical Condition (1998)
• The Mind Doesn't Work That Way (2000)

Legacy

Fodor's work has had a profound impact on the fields of philosophy of mind, cognitive science, and linguistics. His theories continue to be a subject of discussion and debate among scholars.

Related Pages

• Philosophy of mind
• Cognitive science
• Linguistics
• Hilary Putnam
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• City University of New York
• Rutgers University