Why does J. A. Fodor think that there must be a language of thought Is Essay

Why does J. A. Fodor think that there must be a language of thought Is he right - Essay Example Specifically, Fodor advanced a notion of a language of thought. Fodor’s Language of Thought Hypothesis (LOTH) states that the thought process occurring in the mind is a symbolic system that parallels a language in structure. Jerry Fodor’s presented LOTH in his aptly titled book The Language of Thought (Fodor 1975). Through an examination the major platforms of the LOTH hypothesis, as well as prominent criticisms, this essay examines the extent that Fodor is successful in articulating the existence of a language of thought. Language of Thought Philosophers have formulated LOTH by considering the multiplicity of thoughts, or propositional attitudes. One can identify propositional attitudes in sentences like ‘A wishes that B’, or ‘A thinks that B’, or ‘A intends that B’. A is the subject of attitude, B is the sentence, and ‘that B’ is the proposition or the object of the attitude. If we say that C stands for verbs like â €˜wishes’, ‘thinks’, and ‘intends’, then the propositional attitude sentences would take the form: ‘A Cs that B’. Therefore, LOTH can be considered as a hypothesis that features how we create propositional attitudes in our ‘mental language’, and how we relate our thought and thinking with them. Our conceptual thinking takes place in a mental representation of language-like structure; however, this is not direct representation of spoken language. Rather, this ‘language of thought’ is a form of representation where the human mind perceives concepts and symbolizes them rather than using words for those concepts. Hence, the mind uses internal forms of representation, different from traditional linguistic ‘words’, to represent these concepts. Still, these symbols combine to form mental sentences, called the propositional attitudes, which are consistent with the grammatical rules of language. This conc eptual thinking has a computational nature that extracts thinking from processing the series of mental symbols according to algorithms. Representational Theory Jerry Fodor specifically implements representational theory in supporting his position (Fodor 1987). According to representational theory, thinking occurs in the form of symbols that are actually the propositional attitudes described earlier (Fodor 1987). While Fodor argues that propositional attitudes should be represented not only as symbols but also as a language, he believes this ‘language of thought’ is different from spoken and written languages like English, French or German (Fodor 1987). Consider the following: ‘I don’t want to eat ladyfingers, so I’d better tell mom to make me French fries.’ According to representational theory, there is a state of a section of this individual’s brain that represents his or her unwillingness to eat ladyfingers (Fodor 1987). There is anot her section of this individual’s brain that represents his or her way of avoiding ladyfingers; namely, to tell their mom to cook something else (Fodor 1987). Thirdly, there is a small piece of brain circuitry that is linking these two states and instigating an action (Fodor 1987). LOTH asserts that the representation of the decision in this example here has to be structured. That is, it has to be structured just like a sentence articulating that decision. Fodor’s LOTH further states that the structure of symbolic representation in the mind and the linguistic representation of that symbolic representation must be related. That is, the structure of the brain state matching the decision of eating French fries will be equivalent to the structure of the sentence articulating the decision. One considers another example: ‘There is a suspicion crossing my mind that a rat is under my bed’

Motivation in the workforce Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Motivation in the workforce - Essay Example A strong corporate culture is the key for a corporation to attain success in its operation. "Company culture is based on shared values and workplace norms (e.g., innovation, risk-taking) not necessarily personality likenesses. Company cultures pervade the entire organization, not just certain departments or levels of employees."(Rao, 2003). Corporate culture is the underlying element inside a corporation. A strong corporate culture enables a company to deal with challenges effectively especially on its expansion worldwide. A strong corporate culture is characterized by cohesiveness and cooperation. It is of known fact that companies are not run by only one man. Companies are driven by groups of men with the goal of achieving success. It is important to achieve this state of order because companies really do need cohesiveness and teamwork in facing different challenges. Cohesiveness will bring the companies to have a smooth operation that is essential in attaining success. Every membe r is vital and plays a role of significance in the quest to have corporate success in every corporation around the world. "Culture has a vital and measurable impact on the organization's ability to deliver on its strategy. Thus culture is central for a successful operation and to long-term effectiveness of the company" (Gupta, 2007). BARRIERS IN MAKING A STRONG CORPORATE CULTURE In building a strong corporate culture which is tantamount to success is not an easy task. There are also barriers that must be overcome in order for an organization to have a strong corporate culture and succeed in its business endeavor. There are things that can be detrimental to building a strong corporate culture. "During the early 1900s, leadership was by fear and threats, forcing people to follow orders. This is man's natural instinct. This led to the policy of abuse which produced undesirable results" (http://www.motivation-tools.com/workplace). Man always has the tendency to be superior and being on top seems to have a strong feeling of superiority over others. Basically, a very autocratic leadership does not result to a strong corporate culture. A leadership that is abusive does not appeal to the heart of his employees. It may result to rebellion that sometimes manifested in non-cooperation. At times, autocratic leadership results in misbehaviors by leaders or managers. Some leaders take advantage of being a leader and tend to do sexual advances towards his employees. Some taking advantage is manifested in insulting employees even there is no apparent reason in doing so. A culture of immorality then plagues an organization and it is then in opposite direction of building a strong corporate culture because it creates a culture of destructive laziness. Destructive laziness is manifested in lack of interest in job activities because of perceived moral disintegration of leadership. MOTIVATION Motivation is a term we often hear which we generally associate with behavior. Most likely, we experience