Eliminativism

Question 1

Eliminativism

1. Who came up with this concept?
2. What are the basic ideas of eliminativism?

Answer 1

1. Paul Churchland (1942) in 1979

2.
* Mental processes are postulates of a commonsense psychology (“Folk-psychology”) invented to predict and explain behavior
* The very concept of the mind is pre-scientific thinking and should be eliminated from a scientific worldview.
* Sooner or later, people will characterize/predict behavior based on knowledge provided by brain sciences.
* Ascribing thoughts, beliefs, intentions etc. is to apply folk-psychology.

Question 2

Eliminativism

Which 3 criteria for the credability and quality of a theory did Churchland use to compare folk-psychology with neurosciences?

What is his conclusion?

Answer 2

• A theory is better the more phenomena it can explain
• A theory has to have the power to be developed
• A theory has to fit into the worldview that is build-up from generally accepted scientific theories
  (it has to be compatible with other scientific theories)

• Many phenomena can not be explained by FP but by NC
• FP has not developed for over 2000 years (unlike NC)
• FP is hard to fit into our generally scientific worldview
  (Ongoing debates and lack of consensus about how to fit the mind into our physical world)

Conclusion : FP is outdated and superseded by neuroscience and the “mind” is an outdated notion

Question 3

Eliminativism

What is the response of Stephen Stich (1943) and Ian Ravencroft to the idea of eliminativism?

Answer 3

They argue, that there are two different notions of folk-psychology:

• language-based and (partially) culture-dependent set of ideas about mental states and their connections
• lacks a systematic theoretical core
• easy for eliminitavism to attack
• Innate or aquired brain function
• used to interpret the behaviour of others
• widely accepted by philosophers and psychologists

Question 4

Eliminativism

What is the response of Daniel Dennett (1942) to the idea of eliminativism?

Answer 4

Folk-psychology is not comperable to systematic, falsifable and rigorous scientific theories (even though there may be theory-like elements in folk-psychology)

Folk-psychology is more like a craft we learn as we grow up

Folk-psychology is not a theory that can be superseded

Question 5

Eliminativism

What would be the consequences of accepting eliminativism?

Answer 5

• Elimination of Folk-psychology
• Elimination of mental states
• Mental states do not exist, like phlogiston, ether, or caloric
• Our successors will talk about and experience neural states only

Question 6

Eliminativism

What are some objections against eliminativism?

Answer 6

• Mental states: immediate experiential access – no postulates
• Emergence of folk-psychology unclear
• How to learn about our neural processes ?
• Proponent of Eliminative Materialism must believe in own theory, but theory denies belief-states
• Even if neurobiology will turn out to be more successful, this does not mean that Folk-psychology will be eliminated.

Eliminative materialism does not provide a sensible interpretation of empirical results