Philosophy of Mind

Question 1

What is a propositional attitude?

Answer 1

Having an attitude towards a proposition.

Question 2

What does intentionality refer to?

Answer 2

The mind-world relation.

Question 3

Weak Behaviour Entailment Thesis

Answer 3

For any pain capable species there is a certain behaviour type B such that, for that species, being in pain entails a propensity to emit behaviour of type B.

Question 4

What is substance physicalism?

Answer 4

The space-time world consists exclusively of bits of matter and their aggregates.

Question 5

What is irreducibility of the mental?

Answer 5

Mental properties are not reducible to physical properties.

Question 6

The Classical Theory of Concepts

Answer 6

Most concepts are structured representations that encode a set of necessary and sufficient conditions for their application, if possible, in sensory or perceptual terms.

Question 7

The Prototype Theory of Concepts

Answer 7

Most concepts are structured mental representations that encode the properties that objects in their extension tend to possess.

Question 8

The Theory Theory of Concepts

Answer 8

Concepts are representations whose structure consists in their relations to other concepts as specified by a mental theory.

Question 9

The Neo-classical Theory of Concepts

Answer 9

Most concepts are structured mental representations that encode partial definitions, i.e. necessary conditions for their application.

Question 10

The Conceptual Atomism Theory of Concepts

Answer 10

Lexical concepts are primitive, they have no structure.

Question 11

Philosophical Behaviourism

Answer 11

Being in a mental state (such as being happy) is the same as being in a physical state. There is nothing beyond behaviour re the mind.

Question 12

Representational States

Answer 12

About things.

Propositional attitudes.

Question 13

Mind-Body Supervenience

Answer 13

Physical indiscernibility entails psychological indiscernibility

Question 14

Mind-Body Supervenience 1

Answer 14

Things that exactly alike physically cannot differ with respect to mental properties

Question 15

Mind-Body Dependence

Answer 15

Mental properties are dependent on and wholly determined by physical properties

Question 16

Substance dualism

Answer 16

Dualism = two types of fundamental stuff, ie mind and matter

Substances are things that have properties and can in some possible world have independent existence

So substance dualism means that mind can exist independently of matter

Question 17

Substance physicalism

Answer 17

There are no immaterial substances, ie all substances are made up of matter and aggregations of matter

Question 18

Behaviour (as in behaviourism)

Answer 18

Bodily events and conditions that are publicly accessible

Quite basic and not task orientated. Example: cannot include waving to a friend as that involves mental states and someone could perform the same action and it would be waving to an enemy

Question 19

Logical Behaviourism

Answer 19

Any meaningful psychological statement can be translated into physical and behavioural phenomena with no loss of content

Question 20

The mental being irreducible means…

Answer 20

That it is not a 1 to 1 relationship, not that they aren’t physical goings on. For example, if you, an alien, and an octopus can all feel pain then pain is not reducible to just one and only one physical state.