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    Appropriate attribution of mental states requires trackin... — Carmelics
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    Challenges→It is appropriate to attribute mental states in the explanation of behavior when doing so supports successful predictions of behavior

    Appropriate attribution of mental states requires tracking real psychological properties, not merely instrumentally useful fictions (Fodor's realist response to Dennett).

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    1 reason for
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    Reasons For

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    Reason for
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    • 1.Mental states cause behavior via specific causal mechanisms; instrumentalism cannot explain why particular physical states reliably produce actions.
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    • 2.Scientific progress requires identifying real properties (like 'electron'), not mere predictive tools; psychology should aim for equivalent rigor.
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    • 3.If beliefs and desires are fictional, their causal explanations are vacuous; we'd need real properties doing the actual causal work instead.
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    Reasons Against

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    Reason against
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    • 1.Instrumentalism succeeds across science (thermodynamics, evolutionary fitness); why assume psychology requires fundamentally different ontological standards?
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    • 2.No neuroscientific discovery could confirm 'real' beliefs exist; the realist position may be empirically indistinguishable from instrumentalism.
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    • 3.Useful fictions enable successful prediction and control of behavior; additional metaphysical claims about reality add no explanatory work.
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    Truth & Knowledge1 linkedConsciousness & Mind1 linked

    Related

    If beliefs and desires are fictional, their causal explanations are vacuous; we'...Instrumentalism succeeds across science (thermodynamics, evolutionary fitness); ...It is appropriate to attribute mental states in the explanation of behavior when...Mental states cause behavior via specific causal mechanisms; instrumentalism can...
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    No neuroscientific discovery could confirm 'real' beliefs exist; the realist pos...Scientific progress requires identifying real properties (like 'electron'), not ...Useful fictions enable successful prediction and control of behavior; additional...

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    2 (1 for, 1 against)
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