Mental Content

Colin McGinn was educated at Oxford University. The author of sixteen previous books, including The Making of a Philosopher, he has written for the London Review of Books, The New Republic, the New York Times Book Review, and other publications. He has taught philosophy at University College of London, Oxford, and Rutgers University, and is a distinguished professor of philosophy at the University of Miami.

• Preface v 1 The Location of Content 1Introduction 1 Formulating externalism 3 The philosophical significance of externalism 9 Externalism and the world 10 Externalism and the mind 14 The scope and limits of externalism 30 Natural kind concepts and indexical 30 Why weak externalism is obviously true 36 The limits of strong externalism 44 Bodily sensations; character traits; the self 44 Complex concepts and some others 47 Psychological concepts 51 Perceptual content 58 The philosophical bearing of externalism 100 Externalism and substantialism 100 Externalism and physicalism 103 Externalism and skepticism 107 Externalism and psychological explanation 1172 The Utility of Content 120 Psychology and biology 154 Content and science 155 Twin earth and teleology 157 Normativity again 159 Dual componency 161 Subpersonal content 163 Radical interpretation 164 Scepticism 1663 The Basis of Content 169Conceptual structure 186Truth and falsehood 188Logical relations 190Modes of presentation 190Holism 195Predictiveness 196Naturalism 196Summary Conclusion: a Diagram of Content 209Bibliography 212Index 218