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Chapter 7 - Intellectual Goods

from Part II - The Natural Perfections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

Tom Angier
Affiliation:
University of Cape Town
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Summary

Chapter 7 begins with Kornblith’s attempt to resurrect a teleology of the mind or intellect. I countenance his semantic, desire and pragmatic arguments, maintaining that none of them shows truth or true belief to be an objective good. By contrast, Aristotle’s idea that the intellect is constitutively directed at truth does show this (in virtue of the Aristotelian functionalist schema: i.e. all functions are correlated with perfections or goods). And Aristotle’s idea is corroborated not only by ‘folk’ and theoretical psychology, but also by cognitive science. For the latter is wedded to the notion that the brain is a cognitive system, functionally directed at cognition (viz. true belief). I go on to address three critiques of this intellectual teleology – those put forward by William James, evolutionary biology and global scepticism respectively – and argue that none of them is cogent. Next, I unpack two alternative accounts of the relation between truth and goodness – those of Ayer and Davidson – and maintain that they, too, fall short. Last, I tackle intellectual goods beyond true belief – such as knowledge and understanding – asking whether they or their objects form discernible hierarchies.

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  • Intellectual Goods
  • Tom Angier, University of Cape Town
  • Book: Human Nature, Human Goods
  • Online publication: 22 April 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009375573.008
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  • Intellectual Goods
  • Tom Angier, University of Cape Town
  • Book: Human Nature, Human Goods
  • Online publication: 22 April 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009375573.008
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Intellectual Goods
  • Tom Angier, University of Cape Town
  • Book: Human Nature, Human Goods
  • Online publication: 22 April 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009375573.008
Available formats
×