Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society

In a recent series of articles Tyler Burge has presented arguments which cut against individualist theories of intentional states. In this paper I shall try to show what consequences Burge's arguments have for individualist theories of behavior. I shall take Jerry Fodor, who isone of the leading exponents of individualism in psychology, as representative of this view. First,I shall lay out one of Burge's arguments against individualist theories of intentional states;second, I shall describe die leading principles of Fodor's individualist metatheory for psychology; and lastiy, I shall draw some of the consequences that Burge's arguments have forFodor's theory of behavior.