1 / 13

Lecture 4

Lecture 4. Mental Causation, Behaviorism. Mental causation and dualism. The Problem of Mental Causation. “[I]t would be easier for me to concede matter and extension to the soul, than the capacity of moving a body and of being moved, to an immaterial being” (Elisabeth of Bohemia, 1643).

ingo
Download Presentation

Lecture 4

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Lecture 4 Mental Causation, Behaviorism

  2. Mental causation and dualism

  3. The Problem of Mental Causation • “[I]t would be easier for me to concede matter and extension to the soul, than the capacity of moving a body and of being moved, to an immaterial being” (Elisabeth of Bohemia, 1643).

  4. The Problem of Mental Causation, cont. • Two objections inspired by Elisabeth of Bohemia’s question: • Objection 1: • The dualist cannot specify a mechanism, i.e., a “series of intermediate steps or stages that transform one state into another”(Crumley, p. 27).

  5. The Problem of Mental Causation, cont. • Objection 2: • The Argument From Causal closure: • Every physical event is completely explained by physical causes. (Premise) • Human actions are physical events. (Premise) Therefore, • Human actions are completely explained by physical causes. (From 1,2) Therefore, • There is no room for non-physical causes in explanations of action. (From 3) Therefore, • If dualism is true, then there is no mental causation. (From 4)

  6. Epiphenomenalism • Dualists who accept that the mental does not causally interact with the physical are epiphenomenalists. • Problems for epiphenomenalism: • Conflict with folk psychology. • Smullyan’s “unfortunate dualist”.

  7. behaviorism

  8. Background to Behaviorism: Interactionism • Introspectionists studied the mind by asking test subjects to report on their own mental states. Wilhelm Wundt, founder of introspectionism (and of psychology)

  9. Behaviorism • Behavior, unlike mental states, is publicly and directly observable. • Behavior should therefore be the focus of psychology.

  10. Behaviorism 1: Methodological Behaviorism • Psychology is the study of behavior. • Mental concepts do not illuminate behavior. • We do not know whether mental states exist.

  11. Skinner’s Notion of Operant Conditioning • The ultimate causes of an agent’s voluntary behavior are current stimuli and the rewards and punishments the agent has received for her past behavior. • Example: • Jimmy sings karaoke every week-end because he has received positive praise for his performances in the past.

  12. Behaviorism 2: Ontological Behaviorism • Psychology is the study of behavior. • Mental states do not exist; • they are fictions we invent when we don’t know the complex operant history responsible for a behavior.

  13. Logical Behaviorism • Mental terms are shorthand for more complicated behavioral descriptions. • Example: ‘John is in pain’ is shorthand for: ‘(a) If you ask John ‘Are you in pain?’ he will reply ‘Yes’, and (b) John tries to avoid the source of the pain, and (c) John grimaces, and (d) Etc…

More Related