Jerry Fodor

Jerry Fodor
Fodor in 2007
Born	Jerry Alan Fodor (1935-04-22)April 22, 1935 New York City, US
Died	November 29, 2017(2017-11-29) (aged 82) New York City, US
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 many crucial 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.