Meaning, Creativity, and the Partial Inscrutability of the Human Mind

This volume criticizes current philosophy of language as having an altered focus without adjusting the needed conceptual tools. It develops a new theory of lexical meaning, a new conception of cognition--humans not as information processing creatures but as primarily explanation and understanding seeking creatures--with information processing as a secondary, derivative activity. In conclusion, based on the theories of lexical meaning and cognition, this book sketches an argument showing that the human understanding of human understanding must always remain just partial.

Julius M. Moravcsik is Professor of Philosophy at Stanford University

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8/14/98