Thinker · TH-0368
Ruth Millikan
Ruth Millikan is an American philosopher of biology, mind and language, long based at the University of Connecticut. She developed teleosemantics, the view that…
Ruth Millikan is an American philosopher of biology, mind and language, long based at the University of Connecticut. She developed teleosemantics, the view that meaning and mental representation rest on biological function. On her account, the proper function of a trait is fixed by its selection history, what traits of that type did that explains why they were reproduced, so a heart's function is to pump blood even in a heart that fails to.
Key ideas
- A trait's proper function is what its ancestors did that explains their selection.
- Function is historical, so a malfunctioning organ still has its function.
- Representations get their content from the functions of the systems that produce and consume them.
- Concepts are abilities to reidentify things, not definitions in the head.
Major works
- Language, Thought, and Other Biological Categories (1984)
- White Queen Psychology and Other Essays for Alice (1993)
- Varieties of Meaning (2004)
- Beyond Concepts (2017)
In the conversation
- Debate Genes carry information only in Shannon’s sense; the rest is metaphor
- Question My daughter asked what mosquitoes are for. Is there an honest answer?
- Question Is Aristotle’s “final cause” an explanation, or just a story about purpose?
- Debate Teleosemantics is the best naturalistic theory of content we have
- Debate Being a realist about electrons commits me to nothing about moral or mathematical facts
In the Coordinates
The questions of philosophy where Ruth Millikan takes a place, from The Coordinates of Thought.
- 6.12 Philosophy of Biology Is there purpose in living things?