Jerry Fodor | |
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Born | Jerry Alan Fodor April 22, 1935 New York City, US |
Died | November 29, 2017 New York City, US | (aged 82)
Alma mater | Columbia University Princeton University |
Awards | Jean Nicod Prize (1993) |
Era | 20th-/21st-century philosophy |
Region | Western philosophy |
School | Analytic |
Institutions | Rutgers University |
Thesis | The Uses of "Use": A Study in the Philosophy of Language (1960) |
Doctoral advisor | Hilary Putnam |
Other academic advisors | Sidney Morgenbesser |
Main interests | Philosophy of mind Philosophy of language Cognitive science Rationalism Cognitivism Functionalism |
Notable ideas | Modularity of mind Language of thought |
Jerry Alan Fodor (/ˈfoʊdər/ FOH-dər; April 22, 1935 – November 29, 2017) was an American philosopher and the author of works in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive science.[1] 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."[1] At the time of his death in 2017, he held the position of State of New Jersey Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Rutgers University, and had taught previously at the City University of New York Graduate Center and MIT.