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3/23/171Introduction to Philosophy Philosophy of Mind 5Recapitulation•Logical Behaviorism claims that beliefs and desires are not inner states –we construct them in a certain way (to be discussed in the discussion session)•The argument for LB was not valid•One can object against the premissthat our inner states are unknowable > on the basis of abduction we can know the beliefs and desires of other people (and of yourself!)Recapitulation II•Methodological Behaviorism accepts the existence of innermental states, but claims that we should not appeal to them in scienceØScience should not deal with unobservable and untestable thingsØInnermental states are unobservable, and our way of appealing to them in explaining behavior is too flexible to be testable•These criteria seem too strictMB’s Alternative•MB’s explanation of behavior works in the following way:-By past experience animals are conditioned to behave in way G if circumstances F are there> they develop the disposition to behave G-like in case of F.-Circumstances F are there.-Then animals behave in way G.•This schema should also work for more complex behavior.•Thus there is no need to refer to beliefs and desires. 3/23/172Objections against MB•Are these dispositions not some kind of inner states?•The circumstances and the behavior can only be described in physical terms –mental terms are forbidden.ØBut (a) small differences in physical terms can have huge consequences in behavior;ØAnd (b) huge differences in physical terms can have no consequence at all for behavior.ØWhereas in mental terms case (a) is very different; and case (b) is not different at all.•How to explain behavior without prior conditioning?ØFor example, if the circumstances are completely new.ØOr if someone goes against the conditioned behavior. Two Aspects of the Mind•In all these arguments discussed so far one should distinguish between two aspects of the mind:1.The belief-desire aspect > we ascribe beliefs and desires to ourselves and to others to explain behavior2.The awareness/feeling aspect > we have a kind of inner experience (of perception, of pain, of pleasure, but also of having a belief or a desire)•The arguments for Dualism are based on 2.•Logical and Methodological Behaviorism try to get rid of 2., either by denying that it is there (LB) or by ignoring it for explanation of behavior (MB).•Criticism of LB and MB: so pain and pleasure, which seem to depend on awareness (2), do not play any explanatory role? That seems implausible.Mind-Body Identity Theory•The Mind-Body Identity Theory says that:1.There is a difference between two people in terms of mental states only if there is a difference between two people in bodily states2.This is so because the mental states are identical to bodily statesØEvery type of mental state M is identical to a type of bodily state BØFor example: desire for ice-cream is those cells being in a certain state (alwaysthe same type of state withthe same type of desire). Arguments for the Identity Theory1.All scientific progress until now has amounted to providing physical/materialist explanations for phenomena, e.g. in biologyØThis has already started in psychology as well, and it will continue to be so.2Establishing that there is a correlation between a bodily state and a mental state by itself is not enough for the identity claim; but if there is no need to claim that the mental state is not identical with the bodily state, then it is better to assume their identity.ØPrinciple of parsimony: simpler models are better than richer models, all things being equal: only if there is an explanatory need to do so, you may accept the richer model.