4.8 Philosophy of Mind

Twelve scatterplots showing which percentage of the articles in each journal in each year are in the category philosophy of mind. A brief summary of the data follows. In an average year in Mind, 20.4% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Mind in 1889 when it accounts for 49.7% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1927 when it accounts for 7.3% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, 22.2% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society in 1910 when it accounts for 37.0% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 2009 when it accounts for 10.1% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Ethics, 6.1% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Ethics in 2009 when it accounts for 12.4% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1960 when it accounts for 2.9% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Philosophical Review, 16.6% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Philosophical Review in 1892 when it accounts for 37.8% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1932 when it accounts for 7.3% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Analysis, 14.2% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Analysis in 1967 when it accounts for 23.1% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1979 when it accounts for 6.7% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Philosophy and Public Affairs, 5.4% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Philosophy and Public Affairs in 1996 when it accounts for 8.4% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 2010 when it accounts for 2.4% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Journal of Philosophy, 14.2% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Journal of Philosophy in 2011 when it accounts for 23.8% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1982 when it accounts for 8.4% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, 17.6% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research in 2000 when it accounts for 28.4% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1946 when it accounts for 6.8% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Philosophy of Science, 9.8% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Philosophy of Science in 1953 when it accounts for 15.7% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1945 when it accounts for 5.6% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in Noûs, 15.3% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in Noûs in 2007 when it accounts for 23.5% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1981 when it accounts for 8.1% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in The Philosophical Quarterly, 16.4% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in The Philosophical Quarterly in 2009 when it accounts for 28.5% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1977 when it accounts for 8.0% of the articles in the journal. In an average year in British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, 11.0% of the articles are in the category philosophy of mind. Philosophy of mind is most prevalent in British Journal for the Philosophy of Science in 1956 when it accounts for 27.7% of the articles in the journal. And it is least prevalent in 1985 when it accounts for 4.3% of the articles in the journal.

Figure 4.20: Proportion of each journal’s yearly publications in Philosophy of Mind

Again, it’s hard to see much of a trend here. Mind stops publishing work that is (by contemporary standards) more psychology than philosophy, and that leads to a bit of a fall. Then there is an odd fall in the 1990s, simultaneous with an upsurge in how many philosophy of language papers Mind publishes. But otherwise it’s like every journal decided at its foundation what proportion of its space will go to philosophy of mind, and it has stuck to that pretty closely ever since. Just what topics in philosophy of mind that they’ve covered is much less stable.

14 scatterplots showing which percentage of the articles in all journals in each year from 1900 onwards are in the each of the topics category philosophy of mind. A brief summary of the data follows. In an average year, 0.5% of the articles are in the cognitive sciencetopic. Cognitive science is most prevalent in 2008 when it accounts for 2.4% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.8% of the articles are in the color/colourtopic. Color/colour is most prevalent in 1901 when it accounts for 1.8% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.8% of the articles are in the conceivability argumentstopic. Conceivability arguments is most prevalent in 2001 when it accounts for 1.8% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.9% of the articles are in the conceptstopic. Concepts is most prevalent in 2001 when it accounts for 1.9% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.8% of the articles are in the emotionstopic. Emotions is most prevalent in 1911 when it accounts for 2.1% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.2% of the articles are in the Freudtopic. Freud is most prevalent in 1980 when it accounts for 0.9% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.6% of the articles are in the intentiontopic. Intention is most prevalent in 1981 when it accounts for 1.9% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.7% of the articles are in the minds and machinestopic. Minds and machines is most prevalent in 1989 when it accounts for 1.6% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 3.2% of the articles are in the OLP mindtopic. OLP mind is most prevalent in 1909 when it accounts for 4.9% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 1.5% of the articles are in the perceptiontopic. Perception is most prevalent in 1906 when it accounts for 3.6% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 1.7% of the articles are in the physicalismtopic. Physicalism is most prevalent in 1922 when it accounts for 5.3% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 1.9% of the articles are in the psychologytopic. Psychology is most prevalent in 1901 when it accounts for 10.3% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 1.2% of the articles are in the self-consciousnesstopic. Self-consciousness is most prevalent in 1901 when it accounts for 5.5% of the articles in all journals. In an average year, 0.6% of the articles are in the wide contenttopic. Wide content is most prevalent in 1992 when it accounts for 2.4% of the articles in all journals.

Figure 4.21: Topics in Philosophy of Mind

Table 4.2: Points excluded from topic graph for philosophy of mind
Subject	Year	Frequency
Psychology	1901	0.1027
Psychology	1902	0.0809
Psychology	1903	0.0761
Psychology	1904	0.0965
Psychology	1906	0.0764
Psychology	1907	0.0861
Psychology	1910	0.0736
Psychology	1911	0.0730
Psychology	1917	0.0640
Psychology	1918	0.0616

The psychology topic, which I had always associated with Mind pre-1900, hangs around into the 1930s. It doesn’t make up a big portion of what Mind does in the twentieth century, but it is an important part of the early years of Philosophical Review. Some of the other topics are arguably papers that could just have easily been classified with Psychology. That’s true for the handful of color/colour papers in the 1880s and the pre-1900 work on emotions. It’s also somewhat true of the early work on self-consciousness, though some of that work is also idealist influenced.

I’ve already talked about the physicalism topic at some length and won’t repeat it here; this was a very large surprise.

OLP mind is the part of ordinary Language philosophy dealing with philosophy of mind. Unlike the ethics part of ordinary language philosophy, the model thinks this was just picking up on an existing trend, rather than building something wholly new.

The more recent topics are not too surprising. Thankfully journals are now publishing more work on cognitive science. I would have guessed that the graph for minds and machines would have started earlier, and stayed higher, than the graphs for conceivability arguments and for concepts, but it’s not too surprising.

The Freud subtopic is tiny, but that’s in part because some of the Freud articles got slid over into intention. I don’t know what the model was thinking there, but it didn’t affect the overall category graphs.