Origins of Objectivity

Tyler Burge is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the author of Truth, Thought, Reason: Essays on Frege (OUP, 2005) and Foundations of Mind (OUP, 2007).show more

Preface ; PART I ; 1. Introduction ; 2. Basic Terminology: What the Questions Mean ; 3. Anti-Individualism ; PART II ; 4. Individual Representationalism in the Twentieth Century's First Half ; 5. Individual Representationalism after Mid-Century: Preliminaries ; 6. Neo-Kantian Individual Representationalism: Strawson and Evans ; 7. Language Interpretation and Individual Representationalism: Quine and Davidson ; PART III ; 8. Biological and Methodological Backgrounds ; 9. Origins ; 10. Origins of Some Representational Categories ; 11. Glimpses Forwardshow more

a comprehensive, sophisticatedly argued, and empirically well-informed critique ... unquestionably an important and impressive work in the philosophy and psychology of perception. Its scope is large, its thesis novel and wideranging in import, and its critical assessments of competing theories insightful and Origins of Objectivity is Tyler Burge's long-awaited first monograph. It is an absolutely terrific work, conceived and executed at a scale and level of ambition rarely seen in contemporary philosophy. The book's primary aim is to contribute a theory of perception; more broadly, however, it also delivers a subtle and nuanced query into the place of distinctively psychological capacities in the natural order. One can only hope that the book will come to shape discussions in the philosophy of mind and perception for years to come, not just in terms of its specific doctrines - bold and persuasive as they are - but also in terms of its methods. Burge's integration of insights from a vast range of empirical sciences with philosophical reflection stands out as a model for emulation. * Endre Begby, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews * the most important book in the philosophy of mind for several decades ... with its publication the subject ought to enter a new, more mature phase... an immensely distinguished contribution to this fundamental topic in philosophy. * Christopher Peacocke, Times Literary Supplement * As a history, Origins of Objectivity provides an illuminating position from which to view our most recent philosophical inheritance. As a philosophical account of the nature of perceptual representation, it offers an explanatorily rich, empirically grounded, comprehensive theory. As a method, it is an exemplar of the power of empirically informed philosophical inquiry.show more