Directive Content

Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 102 (1):2-26 (2020)
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Abstract

Representations may have descriptive content, directive content, or both, but little explicit attention has been given to the problem of distinguishing representations of these three kinds. We do not know, for instance, what determines whether a given representation is a directive instructing its consumer to perform some action or has descriptive content to the effect that the action in question has a certain value. This paper considers what it takes for a representation to have directive content. The first part of the paper presents the Liberal View, which might be taken to be the default position on this issue. The Liberal View has some attractions, but as the second part shows, these are less conclusive than they might at first appear, and there is much to be said for an alternative, the Strict View.

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Patrick Butlin
University of Oxford

Citations of this work

Teleological theories of mental content.Peter Schulte & Karen Neander - 2022 - Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

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References found in this work

Intentionality: An Essay in the Philosophy of Mind.John R. Searle - 1983 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Intention.G. E. M. Anscombe - 1957 - Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society 57:321-332.
Convention: A Philosophical Study.David Lewis - 1969 - Synthese 26 (1):153-157.

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