Words and Images

Words and Images PDF

Author: Christopher Gauker

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2011-06-30

Total Pages: 315

ISBN-13: 0199599467

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For centuries philosophers have attempted to derive concepts from perceptual representations but have failed to explain how the mind generates the building blocks of thought. Gauker addresses this problem in a new account of imagistic cognition. He shows that much of cognition occurs by means of mental imagery, without the help of concepts.

Essays in the History of Ideas

Essays in the History of Ideas PDF

Author: Arthur O. Lovejoy

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2019-12-01

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 1421432382

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Originally published in 1948. In the first essay of this collection, Lovejoy reflects on the nature, methods, and difficulties of the historiography of ideas. He maps out recurring phenomena in the history of ideas, which the essays illustrate. One phenomenon is the presence and influence of the same presuppositions or other operative "ideas" in very diverse provinces of thought and in different periods. Another is the role of semantic transitions and confusions, of shifts and of ambiguities in the meanings of terms, in the history of thought and taste. A third phenomenon is the internal tensions or waverings in the mind of almost every individual writer—sometimes discernible even in a single writing or on a single page—arising from conflicting ideas or incongruous propensities of feeling or taste to which the writer is susceptible. These essays do not contribute to metaphysical and epistemological questions; they are primarily historical.

A New Essay Concerning the Origin of Ideas

A New Essay Concerning the Origin of Ideas PDF

Author: Antonio Rosmini

Publisher: WRITTINGS OF BLESSED ANTONIO ROSMINI

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13: 9781899093557

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A philosophical examination of the development of thought on the origin of ideas. Rosmini considers critically the teaching of Plato, Aristotle, Leibniz and Kant; Locke, Hume, Condillac, Thomas Reid and Dugald Stewart.

Condillac: Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge

Condillac: Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge PDF

Author: Etienne Bonnot De Condillac

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2001-09-06

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780521584678

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Condillac's Essay on the Origin of Human Knowledge, first published in French in 1746 and offered here in a new translation, represented in its time a radical departure from the dominant conception of the mind as a reservoir of innately given ideas. Descartes had held that knowledge must rest on ideas; Condillac turned this upside down by arguing that speech and words are the origin of mental life and knowledge. His work influenced many later philosophers, and also anticipated Wittgenstein's view of language and its relation to mind and thought.

The Cambridge Companion to Locke's 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding'

The Cambridge Companion to Locke's 'Essay Concerning Human Understanding' PDF

Author: Lex Newman

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2007-03-05

Total Pages: 18

ISBN-13: 1139827235

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First published in 1689, John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding is widely recognised as among the greatest works in the history of Western philosophy. The Essay puts forward a systematic empiricist theory of mind, detailing how all ideas and knowledge arise from sense experience. Locke was trained in mechanical philosophy and he crafted his account to be consistent with the best natural science of his day. The Essay was highly influential and its rendering of empiricism would become the standard for subsequent theorists. This Companion volume includes fifteen new essays from leading scholars. Covering the major themes of Locke's work, they explain his views while situating the ideas in the historical context of Locke's day and often clarifying their relationship to ongoing work in philosophy. Pitched to advanced undergraduates and graduate students, it is ideal for use in courses on early modern philosophy, British empiricism and John Locke.