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Extruding Intentionality from the Metaphysical Flux
On the Origin of Objects is, at heart, an extended search for a non-circular and nonreductive
characterization of two key notions: intentionality (the content or "aboutness"
distinctive of mental states) and computation (the familiar but elusive tool of much
cognitive scientific explanation). Only a non-circular and non-reductive account of these
key notions can, Smith believes, provide a secure platform for a proper understanding of
the mind. The project has both a negative and a positive aspect. Negatively, Smith rejects
views that attempt to identify the key notions with lower-level physical properties,
arguing instead for a more abstract and systemic understanding. This negative effort
occupies Part I of the book (Analysis). In Part II (Construction), we encounter the
positive side of Smith's proposal: an attempt to develop a non-reductive analysis of
computation and meaning able to meet the (rather severe) requirements laid out in Part I.
One purpose of this critical review is to lay out this project in fairly simple terms.
This is necessary since Smith's own treatment and prose sometimes obscures the flow of
the argument. I suggest that, properly understood, Smith's proposal bears a clear affinity
to ideas emerging from the dynamical systems movement within Cognitive Science, and
that this tie-in can help put flesh on several of the more metaphorical characterizations in
the book. My main criticism is that the book ultimately fails to provide an account able to
meet Smith's own requirements for a truly non-reductive account of intentionality. This is
especially the case regarding Smith's commitment to licensing a partition of the world
based on no a priori assumptions whatsoever. The exercise is a valuable one, however,
since it forces us to look harder at some foundational assumptions and at least hints at a
new and refreshing perspective: one in which the key explanatory relations are grounded
in facts about human practice and pragmatically established social norms