Rule-following: From Imitation to the Normative Mind

by Bartosz Brozek

Overview

This comprehensive study deciphers the practice of rule-following, with the use of the tools offered by both contemporary philosophy and neuroscience. The book claims - in the Wittgensteinian spirit - that rule-following cannot be thought of in terms of individual mental states only. In order to explain what rules are, one needs to consider rule-following to be a communal practice. This stance is backed by some evolutionary scenarios and neuroscientific theories. The book culminates in an explication of rule-following in language, morality, and mathematics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9788378860020
Publisher:	Copernicus Center Press
Publication date:	03/04/2013
Pages:	234
Product dimensions:	5.75(w) x 9.50(h) x 0.90(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction. Of rules 9

1 The many faces of rule-following 9

2 At the crossroads of philosophy 14

Chapter 1 Wittgenstein's insights 27

1 The illusion of the Cartesian theatre 27

2 Escaping the paradox 34

3 Rudimentary and abstract rules 44

Chapter 2 Imitation 53

1 Out-aping the apes 54

2 The culture of imitation 68

3 The neuroscience of rule-following 76

Chapter 3 Is meaning normative? 91

1 The normativity of meaning debate 91

2 The formal view of language 100

3 The embedded view of language 104

4 Janus-faced normativity 112

Chapter 4 How to blunt Hume's Guillotine? 115

1 Hume versus Kant 115

2 The barking of the emotional dog 128

3 Under the guillotine 137

Chapter 5 The miracle of mathematics 151

1 The 3E theory 154

2 Plato's beard and Occam's razor 175

3 The miracle argument 182

Chapter 6 Into Popper's world 189

1 The three worlds 193

2 Rules in the world 3 200

Conclusion. The normative mind 215

Bibliography 227