Lot, CTM, and the elephant in the room

Susan Schneider

pp. 235-250

in: Brian P. McLaughlin, Tim Crane (eds), The philosophy of Jerry Fodor, Synthese 170 (2), 2009.

Abstract

According to the language of thought (LOT) approach and the related computational theory of mind (CTM), thinking is the processing of symbols in an inner mental language that is distinct from any public language. Herein, I explore a deep problem at the heart of the LOT/CTM program—it has yet to provide a plausible conception of a mental symbol.