?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info%3Aofi%2Ffmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Adc&rft.title=Semantics%2C+Conceptual+Role&rft.creator=Block%2C+Ned&rft.subject=Philosophy+of+Mind&rft.description=According+to+Conceptual+Role+Semantics+(%22CRS%22)%2C+the+meaning+of+a+representation+is+the+role+of+that+representation+in+the+cognitive+life+of+the+agent%2C+e.g.+in+perception%2C+thought+and+decision-making.+It+is+an+extension+of+the+well+known+%22use%22+theory+of+meaning%2C+according+to+which+the+meaning+of+a+word+is+its+use+in+communication+and+more+generally%2C+in+social+interaction.+CRS+supplements+external+use+by+including+the+role+of+a+symbol+inside+a+computer+or+a+brain.+The+uses+appealed+to+are+not+just+actual%2C+but+also+counterfactual%3A+not+only+what+effects+a+thought+does+have%2C+but+what+effects+it+would+have+had+if+stimuli+or+other+states+had+differed.+The+view+has+arisen+separately+in+philosophy+(where+it+is+sometimes+called+%22inferential%2C%22+or+%22functional%22+role+semantics)+and+in+cognitive+science+(where+it+is+sometimes+called+%22procedural+semantics%22).+The+source+of+the+view+is+Wittgenstein+(1953)+and+Sellars%2C+but+the+source+in+contemporary+philosophy+is+a+series+of+papers+by+Harman+(see+his+1987)+and+Field+(1977).+Other+proponents+in+philosophy+have+included+Block%2C+Horwich%2C+Loar%2C+McGinn+and+Peacocke+(1992).+In+cognitive+science%2C+they+include+Woods+(1981)+and+Miller+and+Johnson-Laird+(1976).+(See+references+in+Block%2C+1987.)&rft.date=1997&rft.type=Book+Chapter&rft.type=PeerReviewed&rft.format=text%2Fhtml&rft.identifier=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F232%2F1%2F199712005.html&rft.identifier=++Block%2C+Ned++(1997)+Semantics%2C+Conceptual+Role.++%5BBook+Chapter%5D++++(Unpublished)++&rft.relation=http%3A%2F%2Fcogprints.org%2F232%2F<script src='//archive-bar.soton.ac.uk/archive-bar.js'></script>