On Concepts, Modules, and Language

Roberto G. de Almeida is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Concordia University, in Montreal. He received his PhD in Psychology and Cognitive Science at Rutgers University (under the supervision of Jerry Fodor). His theoretical and empirical work is on the nature of lexical concepts, in particular on verb meaning, and on the nature of semantic composition. He co-edited with Christina Manoulidou the volume Cognitive Science Perspectives on Verb Representation and Processing (2015). Lila R. Gleitman is an Emerita Professor in the Department of Psychology and the founding Director of the Institute for Research in Cognitive Science with A. Joshi at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her PhD in Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research concerns the mental lexicon and the syntax-semantics interface, language acquisition, and the relation between language and thought.

• PrefaceContributorsIntroduction: A Fodor's Guide to Cognitive Science Roberto G. de Almeida & Lila Gleitman Part I. Language and the modularity of mind 1. Two notions of modularity Noam Chomsky 2. Exploring the limits of modularityMerrill F. Garrett 3. The modularity of sentence processing reconsideredFernanda Ferreira & James Nye 4. The unity of consciousness and the consciousness of unitThomas G. Bever 5. Semantics for a moduleRoberto G. de Almeida & Ernie Lepore 6. Center-embedded sentences: What's pronounceable is comprehensibleJanet Dean Fodor, Stefanie Nickels, & Esther Schott 7. Getting to the root of the matter: acquisition of morphologyNatalie Batmanian & Karin Stromswold 8. Cognitive Science and Fodorian exceptionalismZenon W. Pylyshyn Part II. Concepts and the Language of Thought 9. Fodor and the innateness of all (basic) conceptsMassimo Piatelli-Palmarini 10. The immediacy of conceptual processingMary C. Potter 11. On language and thought: A question of formatsDavid J. Lobina & Jose Garcia-Albea 12. The neurobiological bases for the computational theory of mindRandy C. Gallistel Index

“The main topics (Language of thought; Modularity) represent two of the most important in the field, with Fodor delivering the deepest and most probing analyses of the problems. Fodor's views, and indeed, the general issues of language and mind, and of modularity, remain fundamental to all of cognitive science, and to the fields that intersect with it-psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, computer science, philosophy, etc. The topics also have historically invited controversy from great thinkers, including many of the writers represented in the volume, which is likely to contribute to an on-going exciting dialogue within the field. The book will be widely read, not only by the student population . . . but also by senior scientists in the field. . . . [T]he volume represents a very serious and significant contribution to the field.”-Barbara Landau, PhD, Dick and Lydia Todd Professor and Director, Science of Learning Institute, Department of Cognitive Science, Johns Hopkins University