The Hard Problem Of Content: Solved (Long Ago)

Studies in Logic, Grammar and Rhetoric 41 (1):73-88 (2015)
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Abstract

In this paper, I argue that even if the Hard Problem of Content, as identified by Hutto and Myin, is important, it was already solved in natu- ralized semantics, and satisfactory solutions to the problem do not rely merely on the notion of information as covariance. I point out that Hutto and Myin have double standards for linguistic and mental representation, which leads to a peculiar inconsistency. Were they to apply the same standards to basic and linguistic minds, they would either have to embrace representationalism or turn to semantic nihilism, which is, as I argue, an unstable and unattractive position. Hence, I conclude, their book does not offer an alternative to representation- alism. At the same time, it reminds us that representational talk in cognitive science cannot be taken for granted and that information is different from men- tal representation. Although this claim is not new, Hutto and Myin defend it forcefully and elegantly.

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Marcin Miłkowski
Polish Academy of Sciences

Citations of this work

The given and the hard problem of content.Pietro Salis - 2024 - Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences 23 (4):797-821.
The Hard Problem of Content is Neither.William Max Ramsey - forthcoming - Review of Philosophy and Psychology:1-22.
Teleosemantics and the Hard Problem of Content.Stephen Francis Mann & Ross Pain - 2022 - Philosophical Psychology 35 (1):22-46.
Tracking representationalism and olfaction.Błażej Skrzypulec - 2022 - Mind and Language 38 (2):446-463.

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