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Folk Psychology: An Empirical Theory Or A False Theory

528 Words3 Pages

Folk Psychology: An Empirical Theory or A False Theory In the article “Eliminative Materialism and the Propositional Attitudes,” Paul Churchland argues that Folk Psychology(FP) is an empirical theory as well as a false theory . In order to comprehend FP, we need to understand that FP is the ability to explain and predict the behavior of others by attributing mental states to them (Kane B 1:03). In class, we talked about two states that are associated with FP, functional states and brain states. Dennett believes that FP should focus on the brain functional states, which are propositional states or our beliefs and desires. However, Churchland refutes Dennett’s argument and focuses on the brain state which is a vague term for physical states. …show more content…

Therefore, we are able to attribute mental states that have lawlike relations to behavior (Churchland 70). For example, if we want something, then we will do anything to obtain it. We are also able to generalize through causation. We can say that pain is caused by an injury, and not that the injury was caused by the pain. He also states that intentionality is not problematic. This means that the logic of mathematical use in other sciences is the same logic in Folk Psychology (Churchland 71). During class discussion, we used the example that people could argue that the number 3 has no causal meaning. Maybe it does not cause anything, but we do have a visual representation of the number. Therefore, we are able to appoint causal intention towards 3 lbs, or 3 oz, or 3 cats, etc in certain situations. Finally, it answers problems of other minds. Due to our experiences, we are able to make predictions of other people's’

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