PHIL 1301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Hilary Putnam, Eliminative Materialism, Noam Chomsky

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 1301
• Professor: Nils- Frederic Wagner

Document Summary

Substance dualism : belief that there are two different substances. The only thing that exists in the world is material. Desire, passion, etc. are all forms of material states. We are all a part of the absolute mind. Early 1920s form of materialism (watson & skinner - conditioning theory) Motivation: providing an explanation as to why dualism fails: a coherent account of relationships between the mental and physical states. Back then: psychology was a science of behaviour. Doesn"t have answers to whether or not there are mental states. Terms or concepts should be replaced by behavioural terms or. Psychology is the science of behaviour; not the science of the mind. Behaviour can be explained without reference to mental events or to internal psychological process. If mental concepts are deployed in explaining behaviour, then either. Terms or concepts should be replaced by behavioural terms or translated into behavioural concepts.