Maps, Language, and the Conceptual/Nonconceptual Distinction

AGUILERA MARIELA

Toronto

Jornada; Cognitive Science speaker series at York University; 2016

York University. Department of Philosophy. Cognitive Science Program

In order to reformulate the distinction between conceptual and nonconceptual content, Heck (2007) turns to an apparent dichotomy between linguistic and iconic representations. As he argues, while linguistic representations have conceptual content, the content of iconic representations is nonconceptual. Despite I deeply sympathize with Heck?s representationalist shift, I will argue that it does not resolve the issue between conceptualism and nonconceptualism in favor of the latter. Based on the case of cartographic representations, I will question the presumed dichotomy between linguistic and iconic representations, and argue thatcartographic representations can satisfy the generality constrain, which supports the conclusion that cartographic representations have conceptual content.