-
A Priori EntitlementIn The realm of reason, Oxford University Press. 2004.States and defends the third principle of rationalism, The Generalised Rationalist Thesis, which holds that all instances of the entitlement relation, both absolute and relative, are fundamentally a priori. Even if a thinker's entitlement to a transition is provided by certain experiences of hers, her entitlement to make that transition from those experiences cannot itself be provided by certain experiences of hers. The author defends the third principle by appeal to two considerations: first, i…Read more
-
58Discussion of Christopher Peacocke’s A Study of Concepts (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 56 (2): 425. 1996.Christopher Peacocke’s A Study of Concepts is a dense and rewarding work. Each chapter raises many issues for discussion. I know three different people who are writing reviews of the volume. It testifies to the depth of Peacocke’s book that each reviewer is focusing on a quite different set of topics.
-
44Précis of A Study of Concepts (review)Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 56 (2): 407. 1996.The principal thesis of A Study of Concepts is that a concept is individuated by its possession condition. Concepts are here understood to be sliced as finely as epistemic possibility. So now and 6 o’clock are different concepts, even if, in context, they pick out the same time; likewise for the observational concept circular and the complex concept locus of coplanar points equidistant from a given point. In the simplest cases, a possession condition is stated by giving a true, individuating sta…Read more
-
41Computation as Involving Content: A Response to EganMind and Language 14 (2): 195-202. 1999.Only computational explanations of a content‐involving sort can answer certain ‘how’‐questions; can support content‐involving counterfactuals; and have the generality characteristic of psychological explanations. Purely formal characteriza‐tions of computations have none of these properties, and do not determine content. These points apply not only to psychological explanation, but to Turing machines themselves. Computational explanations which involve content are not opposed to naturalism. They…Read more
-
69Interrelations: Concepts, Knowledge, Reference and StructureMind and Language 19 (1): 85-98. 2004.This paper has five theses, which are intended to address the claims in Jerry Fodor's paper. (1) The question arises of the relation between the philosophical theory of concepts and epistemology. Neither is explanatorily prior to the other. Rather, each relies implicitly on distinctions drawn from the other. To explain what makes something knowledge, we need distinctions drawn from the theory of concepts. To explain the attitudes mentioned in a theory of concepts, we need to use the notion of kn…Read more
-
50Non‐conceptual Content_: _Kinds, Rationales and RelationsMind and Language 9 (4): 419-430. 1994.
-
14Sense and Content: Experience, Thought and Their RelationsPhilosophical Quarterly 36 (143): 278-291. 1986.
-
2Holistic explanation: An outline of a theoryIn Rational Action, Cambridge University Press. 1979.
-
132Understanding logical constants: A realist's accountIn T. J. Smiley & Thomas Baldwin (eds.), Studies in the philosophy of logic and knowledge, Published For the British Academy By Oxford University Press. pp. 163. 2004.
-
Objectivity, Simulation and the Unity of Consciousness: Current Issues in the Philosophy of MindPhilosophical Quarterly 47 (187): 255-257. 1997.
-
330Conscious attitudes, attention, and self-knowledgeIn C. Macdonald, Barry C. Smith & C. J. G. Wright (eds.), Knowing Our Own Minds: Essays in Self-Knowledge, Oxford University Press. pp. 83. 1998.What is involved in the consciousness of a conscious, "occurrent" propositional attitude, such as a thought, a sudden conjecture or a conscious decision? And what is the relation of such consciousness to attention? I hope the intrinsic interest of these questions provides sufficient motivation to allow me to start by addressing them. We will not have a full understanding either of consciousness in general, nor of attention in general, until we have answers to these questions. I think there are c…Read more
-
10Scenarios, concepts, and perceptionIn Paul F. Snowdon (ed.), The Contents of Experience, Cambridge University Press. 1992.
-
2X*—Finiteness and the Actual Language RelationProceedings of the Aristotelian Society 75 (1): 147-166. 1975.Christopher Peacocke; X*—Finiteness and the Actual Language Relation, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Volume 75, Issue 1, 1 June 1975, Pages 147–166, h.
-
20The Perception of Music: Sources of Significance: SymposiumBritish Journal of Aesthetics 49 (3): 257-275. 2009.Representing one thing metaphorically-as something else is something that can occur in thought, imagination or perception. When a piece of music is heard as expressing some property F, some feature of the music is heard metaphorically-as F. The metaphor is exploited in the perception, rather than being represented. This account is developed and deployed to address some classical issues about music, including Wagner's point that the emotions expressed need not be those of a particular person on a…Read more
-
94Mental Action and Self-AwarenessIn Jonathan Cohen & Brian McLaughlin (eds.), Contemporary Debates in the Philosophy of Mind, Blackwell. 2023.This paper is built around a single, simple idea. It is widely agreed that there is a distinctive kind of awareness each of us has of his own bodily actions. This action-awareness is different from any perceptual awareness a subject may have of his own actions; it can exist in the absence of such perceptual awareness. The single, simple idea around which this paper is built is that the distinctive awareness that subjects have of their own mental actions is a form of action-awareness. Subjects’ a…Read more
-
139Action: Awareness, ownership, and knowledgeIn Johannes Roessler & Naomi Eilan (eds.), Agency and Self-Awareness: Issues in Philosophy and Psychology, Oxford University Press. 2003.
Christopher Peacocke
Columbia University
Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of London
-
-
Institute of Philosophy, School of Advanced Study, University of LondonOther (Part-time)
New York City, New York, United States of America
Areas of Specialization
Metaphysics and Epistemology |
Science, Logic, and Mathematics |
Other Academic Areas |