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water consists in, so biosemantics aims for a constitutive account of intentionality. Such an account, Millikan stresses, must deal adequately with such hallmarks of mentality as error, confusion, and what looks like standing in a relation (the 'aboutness' relation) to something that doesn't exist. For example: one 'sees' the stick is bent, but realizes otherwise after pulling it from the water; the inexperienced prospector thinks he's struck it rich, but he's holding a lump of pyrite ("fool's gold"); the field marshal thinks about the next day's battle, the child wants to ride a unicorn, and the phrase "the greatest prime" is somehow 'about' a number that cannot possibly exist (there's a simple proof for this).
251:. Specifically, she explains intentionality using the explanatory resources of natural selection: what thoughts and sentences and desires are 'about' is ultimately elucidated by reference to what has been selected and what it has been selected for (i.e., what advantage it conferred on ancestors who possessed it). Where this selection is non-intentional, then what it is for is its 'proper function'.
240:". Intentionality is the phenomenon of things being 'about' other things, paradigm cases being thoughts and sentences. A belief of mine that you will do my chores for me, for example, is about you and about my chores. The same is true of a corresponding desire, intention or spoken or written command.
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In general, the goal of a theory of intentionality is to explain the phenomenon – things being 'about' other things – in other, more informative, terms. Such a theory aims to give an account of what this 'aboutness' consists in. Just as chemistry offers the claim "Water is H2O" as a theory of what
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Equally important is what might be called the co-evolution of producer-mechanisms and consumer-mechanisms. Millikan refers to the intertwined selection histories of these mechanisms to explain the hallmarks of mentality and to offer a wide range of positions on various matters of dispute in the
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In her article "Naturalist
Reflections on Knowledge", Millikan defends the position that the justification of true beliefs through an explanation in accordance with evolution constitutes knowledge.
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Millikan is most famous for the view which, in her 1989 paper of the same name, she refers to as "biosemantics". Biosemantics is a theory about something philosophers often refer to as "
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As the name hints, Millikan's theory explains intentionality in terms that are broadly 'biological' or
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Millikan, Ruth
Garrett, Language: A Biological Model, Oxford, 2005, 228pp, $ 29.95 (pbk),
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Millikan has also published many articles, many of which are listed and available
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from 1993 to 1996, but otherwise spent her entire career at the
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Note: the 1993, 2005 and 2012 books are collections of papers.
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Beyond
Concepts: Unicepts, Language, and Natural Information
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Ruth
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142:, where she is now professor emerita of Philosophy.
322:Varieties of Meaning: The 2002 Jean Nicod Lectures
289:White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice
274:Language, Thought and Other Biological Categories
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218:Nicholas Rescher Prize for Systematic Philosophy
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138:. Millikan has spent most of her career at the
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216:in 2014. In 2017, she received both the
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173:Millikan taught half-time at
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340:Language: A Biological Model
150:Millikan earned her BA from
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1083:20th-century American women
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183:University of Michigan
93:philosophy of language
1028:Analytic philosophers
117:Ruth Garrett Millikan
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189:, where she is now
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754:Michael Aschbacher
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512:on March 16, 2017.
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901:Musical arts
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37:Philadelphia
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1008:1933 births
851:Mona Hatoum
794:Visual arts
699:Mathematics
679:Dag Prawitz
631:Saul Kripke
441:Millikan CV
391:Other works
124:philosopher
1002:Categories
718:Mikio Sato
625:John Rawls
619:Dana Scott
540:0199284776
425:References
132:psychology
594:laureates
443:uconn.edu
220:from the
476:July 14,
403:See also
224:and the
136:language
121:American
73:Analytic
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267:Books
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478:2023
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34:1933
31:Born
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