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what is eliminative materialism
the theory that at least some of our basic concepts such as consciousness and Intentionality are fundamentally mistaken and should be eliminated as they do not refer to anything
what is folk psychology
a body of knowledge or theory regarding the prediction and explanation of people’s behaviour constructed by platitudes of the mind ordinary people are likely to endorse
what do eliminative materialists want to eliminate
incorrect folk psychology concepts
what do eliminative materialists endorse
a future practice where mental states will be described and explained purely in terms of neuroscience
what do eliminative materialists imply
that mental states are either identical to or supervene on physical states
what couple are both eliminative materialists
paul and patricia churchland
what does patricia churchland aim to do
motivate eliminative materialism
what does paul churchland aim to do
show why folk psychology is a weak empirical theory
what does eliminative mean
ceasing to use a concept on the grounds that what it refers to does not exist
example of elimination: how did people use to explain heat transfer, in an idea that is now completely abandoned
caloric fluid
had the concept of caloric fluid been reduced, or changed completely
we have eliminated
what sort of reduction was the reduction of heat tokinetic energy
simple
example of something in science that involves a complex reduction
genes and DNA
how does a complex reduction work when concerning mental concepts
there may not be just one mental property we associate with a physical property, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t reduce them
if we’re reducing the theory of how the mind works, what do we need as a stage before going straight to neuroscientific theories
an intermediate theory developed by cognitive science
example of a cognitive reduction: when people get easily addicted to substances, it is actually to do with dopamine rather than ……..
will power, so what does ‘will power’ now refer to
what do we call this body of common sense knowledge
folk psychology
what do paul and patricia churchland think folk psychology is
an empirical theory
why do the churchlands think folk psychology will be eliminated
can’t explains all aspects of mental life, hasn’t developed since ancient greece, not coherent with other scientific theories
example of something that has to be eliminated
Intentionality
why has Intentionality got to be eliminated
physical things are never ‘about’ anything
what does Paul Churchland conclude about folk psychology
does not fit with empirically robust theories
