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    A genuinely parsimonious account must not assume the cogn... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→It is more parsimonious to assume that chimpanzees can understand what others can and cannot see (mindreading) rather than assuming chimpanzees have learned a different behavioral rule for every relevant situation involving a competitor's line of gaze.

    A genuinely parsimonious account must not assume the cognitive architecture whose existence is precisely what is at issue in the debate over animal mindreading.

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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Circularity: assuming complex cognition to explain behavior that simpler mechanisms might produce begs the central question.
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    • 2.Methodological rigor requires we not presume the disputed architecture; doing so undermines the empirical debate's integrity.
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    • 3.Parsimony demands explanations use only necessary posits; assuming contested cognitive structures violates this principle.
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    Reasons Against

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    • 1.Some cognitive architectures are independently established; using them isn't question-begging if they're separately evidenced.
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    • 2.Extreme parsimony can exclude true explanations; mindreading might require the very architecture the claim forbids assuming.
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    • 3.The claim conflates methodological caution with metaphysical constraint; we can provisionally use disputed models while remaining neutral.
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    Consciousness & Mind1 linkedSkepticism1 linked

    Related

    Circularity: assuming complex cognition to explain behavior that simpler mechani...Extreme parsimony can exclude true explanations; mindreading might require the v...It is more parsimonious to assume that chimpanzees can understand what others ca...Methodological rigor requires we not presume the disputed architecture; doing so...
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    Parsimony demands explanations use only necessary posits; assuming contested cog...Some cognitive architectures are independently established; using them isn't que...The claim conflates methodological caution with metaphysical constraint; we can ...

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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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