Jerry Alan Fodor lived from 22 April 1935 to 29 November 2017 and was an American philosopher and author of works in philosophy of mind and cognitive science; his writings laid the groundwork for the modularity of mind and language of thought hypotheses, and he is recognized as having had an enormous influence on virtually every portion of the philosophy of mind literature since 1960. At the time of his death in 2017 he held the position of State of New Jersey Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Rutgers University, having previously taught at the City University of New York Graduate Center and MIT.
Facts
Birth YearSourced to the subject's own account Defining MomentSourced to the subject's own accountHis 1975 book The Language of Thought laid the groundwork for the language-of-thought and modularity-of-mind hypotheses that influenced philosophy of mind for decades. 1 Birth DateSourced to the subject's own account Notable PublicationSourced to the subject's own accountThe Language of Thought (1975) 1 Office HeldSourced to the subject's own accountState of New Jersey Professor of philosophy and cognitive science at Rutgers University 1 Death YearSourced to the subject's own account Death DateSourced to the subject's own account BirthplaceSourced to the subject's own accountNew York City, United States 1 TraditionSourced to the subject's own accountAnalytic philosophy; philosophy of mind and cognitive science 1 Classification
NationalitySourced to the subject's own account Connections
Associated With
Fodor's The Language of Thought (1975) and his modularity-of-mind thesis are central, still-debated positions in the contemporary philosophy of psychology.
In Branch
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Jerry Fodor (Wikipedia)
WikipediaLife and career section
Fodor was born in New York City on April 22, 1935, and was of Jewish descent.
Lead section, dates
April 22, 1935, November 29, 2017
Lead section
was an American philosopher and the author of works in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive science.
Philosophical work section
Fodor argued in his 1975 book The Language of Thought that mental states, such as beliefs and desires, are relations between individuals and mental representations.
Lead section, discipline sentence
was an American philosopher and the author of works in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive science.
Lead section, groundwork sentence
His writings in these fields laid the groundwork for the modularity of mind and the language of thought hypotheses, and he is recognized as having had "an enormous influence on virtually every portion of the philosophy of mind literature since 1960."
Life and career section, Rutgers professorship
From 1988, until his retirement in 2016 as emeritus, he was State of New Jersey Professor of philosophy and cognitive science at Rutgers University.
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