Week 2: Behaviourism, mind-brain identity theory, and functionalism Flashcards
What lead to the rise of behaviourism?
Introspection was no longer considered a scientific method of measurement. Introspection could not be verified or falsified. The inner realm cannot be observed by others, thus, the soul, the mind, consciousness, and all related notions were banned for being unscientific.
What is logical/philosophical behaviourism?
Behaviourism includes the investigation of a stimulus and measurement of behaviour which could be influenced through conditioning. Behaviourists purposefully ignored the mind because they needed to be scientific.
What is the para-mechanical hypothesis?
The idea that intelligent behaviour is characterized by its specific causal origin is what Ryle calls the para-mechanical hypothesis. Behaviour and mind are merely causally connected. The mind controls behaviour causally, but behaviour is not part of the mind.
Cartesian dualism argues that the difference between intelligent and non-intelligent behaviour is a causal difference: intelligent behaviour is caused by the mind whereas non-intelligent behaviour is purely a bodily affair.
What is the behaviourist argument against Cartesian dualism?
Cartesian dualism makes a category mistake. Cartesian dualism treats the mind and the body as belonging to the same catergory (things) when they belong to different categories (bodies are things, minds are not).
The mind is not a thing that exists on its own, it is a concept that manifests through behaviour.
What is the behaviourist argument against the para-mechanical hypothesis?
The difference between intelligent and non-intelligent behaviour is first and foremost a conceptual distinction. The para-mechanical hypothesis does not add anything to our understanding of the distinction. On the one hand, this indicates that the idea of the mind as a hidden realm behind our behaviour is unnecessary. On the other hand, it implies that much of what we call mind is already an integral part of behaviour.
What is the mind according to behaviourists?
The mind is a set of behavioural dispositions. That is, the mind is a set of dispositions to bodily behaviours. A disposition is a tendency to display specific behaviour in specific circumstances.
E.g. Thirst is not distinct to the inner realm, it is simply a disposition to display various thirst behaviours such as drinking, grabbing, and looking for water. This does not mean that when I am thirsty I will always go to find water.
What is the difference between logical behaviourists and psychological behaviourists?
Logical behaviourists = behaviourism in philosophy
Psychological behaviourists study behaviour instead of the mind, whereas logical behaviourists define the mind in terms of behaviour.
What argument do behaviourists give for behaviourism?
Cartesian dualism is false and this is its alternative.
What counterarguments can be given to behaviourism?
- There is an inner aspect to the mind that needn’t always be reflected in behaviour (e.g. well-trained actress can act out pain [behaviour] when the mental state isn’t present or someone can hide their pain [behaviour] when the mental state is present).
- Mental holism: mental states are not isolated events but parts of complex networks of states. Ryle tries to define mental concepts using specific sets of behavioural dispositions. However, mental holism argues that behaviour is always connected to not just one, but a network of many mental states.
- The conceptual connection does not exclude the causal connection.
What is identity theory?
A rejection of Cartesian dualism that was introduced by Edward Boring who argued that conscious experiences are identical to brain states. The mind-brain identity theory argues that the mind is the brain and mental states are brain states.
There are two types of identity theories: type identity and token identity theories.
“Is” stands for identity
What arguments have been given for identity theory?
- Scientific research has found that the mind is manipulated only if and only insofar as the brain is manipulated, which suggests very strongly that the mind is the brain.
- The principle of parsimony (a.k.a. Occam’s razor: the idea that if you have two competing theories to explain the same phenomenon, the simpler theory should be used). Explaining everything in terms of the physical is simpler than explaining things in terms of the immaterial soul (unbelievable).
What is type-identity theory?
Every mental state of a specific type is identical to a brain state of a specific type. A class of brain state is the same as a class of the mental state. This is the exact same across all people. The same brain states will be activated by the same mental states. The brain of two people in pain should be the same.
What is a problem for type-identity theory?
Animals with different brains are able to produce the same kind of mental states. Multiple realization is the belief that different kinds of brains appear able to realize the same kinds of mental states. One solution to this problem is to accept that there are many kinds of pain.
What is token-identity theory?
Every token of a mental state-type is identical to a token of a brain state-type. Thus, not all tokens of a mental state-type are identical with tokens of the same type of brain state. Multiple realization can be explained with this theory.
However, this theory does not say much more than “that mental states are brain states”.
What are counterarguments against identity theory?
- Multiple realization: all sorts of animals can experience feelings similar to us but have different brains than us.
- The explanatory gap: what does identity really explain? What information does this give us? Identity theorists tend to respond to this problem by pointing to the fact that at some point we just need to stop asking why questions.
