The Naturalization of Intentionality - Related Theories

Related Theories

Resemblance theories, as explained by Crane, is “to say that resemblance is sufficient for representation is to say this: if X resembles Y, then X represents Y. The first thing that should strike us is that ‘resembles’ is somewhat vague. For, in one sense, almost everything resembles everything else. This is the sense in which resembling something is just having some feature in common with that thing. So, in this sense, not only do I resemble my father and my mother, because I look like them, but I also resemble my desk – my desk and I are both physical objects – and the number 3 – the number 3 and I are both objects of one kind of another. But I am not a representation of any of these things.”

Teleosemantics, also known as biosemantics, is used to refer to the class of theories of mental content that use a teleological notion of function. Teleosemantics is best understood as a general strategy for underwriting the normative nature of content, rather than any particular theory. What all teleological theories have in common is the idea that semantic norms are ultimately derivable from functional norms

The theory of asymmetric dependence, from Fodor, who says that his theory “distinguishes merely informational relations on the basis of their higher-order relations to each other: informational relations depend upon representational relations, but not vice versa. He gives an example of this theory when he says, “if tokens of a mental state type are reliably caused by horses, cows-on-dark-nights, zebras-in-the-mist and Great Danes, then they carry information about horses, etc. If however, such tokens are caused by cows-on-dark-nights, etc. because they are caused by horses, but not vice versa, then they represent horses (or property horse).