Abstract

Building on the ‘weak externalist’ position suggested in ‘The Structure of Content’ and developed in Mental Content, McGinn considers the topic of conceptual causation: in particular, the intentionality involved in a concept bringing about a behavioural effect. McGinn's main thesis—that conceptual causation ‘involves’ intentionality in the sense that a ‘mental power comes harnessed to a worldly parameter’—relies heavily on a distinction between two features of causation: causal parameters and causal powers.