Fodor’s guide to the Humean mind

• Published in: Synthese (Dordrecht) Vol. 199; no. 1-2; pp. 5355 - 5375
• Main Author: Demeter, Tamás
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-12-2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Cognition & reasoning; Cognitive psychology; Cognitive science; Dialogue; Education; Empiricism; Epistemology; Historical text analysis; Historicism; Hume, David (1711-1776); Humeanisms; Logic; Metaphysics; Philosophy; Philosophy of Language; Philosophy of Science; Psychology; Reading; Science; David hume; Association; Empiricism; Newtonianism; Faculty psychology; Cognitive science; Jerry fodor
• ISSN: 0039-7857; 1573-0964
• DOI: 10.1007/s11229-021-03028-4

For Jerry Fodor, Hume’s
Treatise of Human Nature
is “the foundational document of cognitive science” whose significance transcends mere historical interest: it is a source of theoretical inspiration in cognitive psychology. Here I am going to argue that those reading Hume along Fodor’s lines rely on a problematic, albeit inspiring, construction of Hume’s science of mind. My strategy in this paper is to contrast Fodor’s understanding of the Humean mind (consonant with the widely received view of Hume in both cognitive science and much of Hume scholarship) with an alternative understanding that I propose. I thereby intend to show that the received view of Hume’s science of mind can be fruitfully revised while critically engaging with Fodor’s contemporary appropriation. Consequently, I use this occasion to put forward a rather unorthodox interpretation of Hume’s theory in dialogue with Fodor as my guide.