09 - Eliminative Materialism

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