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    Carmelics

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    Home/Original/inverse
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    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Ruth Millikan's teleosemantic theory entails that the proper function of a mental state is fixed by its evolutionary history, not its proximate causal role.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Mental states influence behavior through proximate neural mechanisms; evolutionary history is causally inert regarding current mental function.
      ?

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    • 2.Teleosemantic theory struggles with novel thoughts and learned behaviors that have no evolutionary history but possess clear intentional content.
      ?

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    • 3.Content should be individuated by what determines rational inference; proximate computational role better explains cognitive systematicity than ancestry.
      ?

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    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Mental content must have determinate meaning; proximate causes alone allow multiple physical systems identical in causal role to differ in content.
      ?

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    • 2.Evolutionary history explains why certain neural patterns reliably carry information about distal environmental features, grounding intentionality.
      ?

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    • 3.Brain transplants and teleportation intuitions show content tracks origin, not current causation, supporting historical dependence.
      ?

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