PI: François Recanati
The last decade has seen the development of the mental file framework, according to which nondescriptive thoughts about particulars (so-called ‘singular thoughts’) involve mental files whose reference does not depend on category information to be found in the file but on certain environmental relations the obtaining of which triggers the opening of the file. The mental file framework has attracted considerable attention, but it currently faces what may be described as a foundational crisis: according to a recurrent piece of criticism, it fails to provide appropriate identity and persistence conditions for mental files. The aim of this project is to end the crisis by rethinking the foundations of the framework.
We are delighted to announce that Catherine Hochman joined our team in October as a postdoctoral researcher, in a position shared with the CPJ 'Perception and its links with imagination and memory' at Université Grenoble Alpes.
We are delighted to announce that Rory Harder has joined our team as a postdoctoral researcher since September. Welcome, Rory!
We are delighted to announce that Kyle Landrum has joined our team as a postdoctoral researcher since June. Welcome, Kyle!
The ERC project is organizing a symposium on "Modes of presentation, Concepts & Mental Files" as part of the SoPhA Congress at Nantes University, on July 1st, 2025. The participants will be Santiago Echeverri, Michael Murez, Nicholas Shea, and François Recanati.
A special issue of the journal Klēsis devoted to the work of François Recanati, edited by Louis Rouillé, has just been published. It features contributions from François Recanati himself, project members Gregory Bochner and Michael Murez, and several others (in French and in English). The entire issue is available in open access on the journal's website.
mentalfileserc [at] gmail [dot] com