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Content archived on 2024-06-18

The nature of representation

Objective

This project aims to transform our understanding of mental and linguistic representation, its nature and significance for explanatory projects inside and outside philosophy. It seeks to show that the contemporary trend towards “deflationary” and non-explanatory treatments of representation is misguided, and that a naturalistic treatment of representation is available. By bringing together contemporary work in metaphysics with the lessons of the naturalizing projects of the 80s, I can make a breakthrough in the philosophical account of the mind in nature.

I will shows that the key to the correct understanding of the representational relation is to develop the correct conception of the media of representation---the metaphysics of words, in the case of language; and the metaphysics of thought, in the case of mental representation. This topic is neglected, or studied only in abstraction from the metaphysics of representation. But I show that the true value of the groundbreaking approaches developed in the 80s lay in providing a satisfactory individuation of syntax---which provides a basis for resolving outstanding puzzles for interpretationist theories of semantics. This allows a synthesis of the two leading traditions in the foundations of representation. I develop the unified theory in unprecedented detail, use it to pinpoint what goes wrong in recent trends in the field, and examine its interactions with cutting edge problems in philosophy.

The project will open up new approaches to the philosophy of representation, shed new light on the relation between language and thought, and develop a systematic and unified account of the nature, explanatory role, and epistemology of representation.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

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Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2012-StG_20111124
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Funding Scheme

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ERC-SG - ERC Starting Grant

Host institution

UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS
EU contribution
€ 1 499 099,00
Address
WOODHOUSE LANE
LS2 9JT Leeds
United Kingdom

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Region
Yorkshire and the Humber West Yorkshire Leeds
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

No data

Beneficiaries (1)

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