Psychofunctionalism

Analytic Functionalism

Analytic functionalism holds that the meaning of a mental-state term is determined by a set of platitudes– things that everyone knows about that mental state.

Example: Pain

Pain tends to be caused by bodily injuryPain tends to produce the belief that something is wrong with the body Pain tends to produce the desire to be out of it (pain)Pain tends to produce anxietyIn the absence of any stronger, conflicting desires, Pain tends to cause wincing or moaning

Example: Pain

There is some state S: S tends to be caused by bodily injuryS tends to produce the belief that something is wrong with the body S tends to produce the desire to be out of SS tends to produce anxietyIn the absence of any stronger, conflicting desires, S tends to cause wincing or moaning

Example: Pain

IF There is some state S: S tends to be caused by bodily injuryS tends to produce the belief that something is wrong with the body S tends to produce the desire to be out of SS tends to produce anxietyIn the absence of any stronger, conflicting desires, S tends to cause wincing or moaningTHEN S = pain.

Analytic Functionalism

Analytic functionalism was advocated by philosophers like David Lewis. But it is not the only form of functionalism.

Perturbations in Uranus’s Orbit

In the 1820’s-1840’s it was discovered that the planet Uranus did not orbit the sun in the way predicted by Newton’s laws of motion.

Perturbations in Uranus’s Orbit

One possible solution was that Newton’s laws of motion were false.

But this was not actually the reason for Uranus’s strange orbit.

The Discovery of Neptune

In 1845, Urbain Le Verrier predicted that another, undiscovered planet was responsible for Uranus’s strange orbit through gravitational interaction.

The planet, Neptune, was discovered later within 1 degree of Le Verrier’s predicted position.

Perturbations in Mercury’s Orbit

In 1843, Le Verrier tried to determine how the planet Mercury should orbit the sun, if Newton’s laws of motion were correct.

However, in testing Le Verrier’s hypotheses, it was found that the planet didn’t behave as was predicted.

Perturbations in Mercury’s Orbit

One possible solution was that Newton’s laws of motion were false.

In fact, this is the correct explanation. Einstein’s theory of relativity explains Mercury’s orbit accurately.

The Prediction of Vulcan

But based on his earlier success, Le Verrier predicted the existence of a planet, Vulcan, responsible for the perturbations.

We of course never found such a planet.

Theoretical Entities

When the terms ‘Neptune’ and ‘Vulcan’ were introduced (as names for planets), there weren’t any platitudes regarding Neptune and Vulcan.

What we had instead was scientific observations and a theory that explained them. These theories contained unobserved, theoretical entities. When we discovered an object playing the role that theoretical Neptune played, we identified that object as Neptune and accepted the theory. When we failed to find any object playing the Vulcan role, we used this fact (plus other facts) to reject the theory (Newton’s laws).

Folk Psychology as Folk Science

Maybe the so-called ‘platitudes’ involving the mental state terms are not part of the meaning of those terms.

Maybe instead the platitudes constitute a theory, or partial theory, intended to explain the intelligent behavior of humans and other animals.

What’s the Difference

If the analytic functionalist is right, the platitudes really matter. If nothing satisfies them, there are no pains, or beliefs, or whatever.

But if the “platitudes” are considered as a theory, we can do what we in general do with our theories: use science to refine and improve them.

Inattentional Blindness

Video time:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo

Cognitive Psychology

Cognitive psychology is the branch of psychology that studies mental states as theoretical entities.

Cognitive psychologists perform experiments to gain insight into how the mind works. Sometimes they discover that our folk concepts are only loosely reflected in the psychological reality.

Example 1: Memory

For example, psychologists have hypothesized that there are two kinds of memory: short-term memory and long-term memory.

Example 1: Memory

Short-term memory:• Requires or involves attention to

objects or sensations• Has a capacity for storing 7 ±2

items• Stores info for 18-30 seconds• Works on two methods: the

phonological loop and visuospatial sketchpad

Example 1: Memory

Long-term memory:• Doesn’t require any sort of

conscious process.• Can store lots (consider word

meanings/ characters).• Memories can last a lifetime.• Has various fallibilities (Loftus

experiments on episodic memory).

Example 2: Aliefs

Recently, in (2008), the philosopher Tamar Gendler, proposed the existence of a new type of mental state, the alief (cf. belief).

Example 2: Aliefs

The idea is that an alief has very belief-like behavior-governing features, for example, if you alieve that something is dangerous, you’ll avoid doing it.

But unlike beliefs, you’re aliefs aren’t very responsive to your evidence.

Example 2: Aliefs

Psychologists are just now starting to theorize and test the features of aliefs, but they may help explain why we avoid eating food from toilet-shaped bowls, and maybe how stories work (e.g. the paradox of fiction.

Psychofunctionalism

The psychofunctionalist, as opposed to the analytic functionalist, thinks that mental state terms are theoretical entities in a predictive theory about intelligent behavior.

Psychofunctionalism

Such a theory might say something like: “There are two different systems of memory. Short-term memory stores 7 ±2 items for 18-30 seconds when those items are attended to…”

And the claim would be: If there are states X, Y, and Z where: X and Y are two different subsystems of a larger system, where X stores 7 ±2 items for 18-30 seconds when the agent bears Z to those items… then: X = short-term memory, Y = long-term memory, and Z = attention.