PHIL 1200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Noam Chomsky, Other Minds, Headache

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1200
• Professor: Nalini E Ramlakhan

Document Summary

Says that descartes was wrong as a matter of logic. A statement about someone"s mental state can be translated into a set of statements about the person"s behaviour. Having mental states is being predisposed to have certain sorts of behaviour. If you want to know someone"s mental state, you simply look at their behavioural output. If p > q: if your mental state is tired > then you will yawn. Talk abut mental states can be recall with descriptions of behaviour and dispositions to behave. We can reduce mental states to certain behaviour. History of behaviourism: behaviourists wanted to know the connection between the mind and the brain and how the brain is connected to mental phenomena. Is the neutral activity exactly the same all of the time for the same experiences? (ex. Remember that behaviourism has a lack of concern for qualitative experiences/states of mind. If we treat mind and body as distinct, we are making a fundamental mistake.