To What Extent Does Philosophical Behaviourism Give A Convincing Account Of The Mental?

Want to read the rest of this paper? Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay and over 50,000 other term papers

Hempel and other logical positivists, one must apply a criterion of meaningfulness in reformulating sentences in order to reduce them to their subjacent properties. As folk psychological language is not purely formal, it is not verifiable based on the definitions of its constituents, therefore its meaningfulness is determined by means of sense experience. Hempel denies the idea that neuroscientific language could constitute an appropriate translation of folk psychological language, as it cannot be empirically observed and verified to be true. Instead Hempel proposed a translation without loss of meaning of folk psychological language into verifiable sentences detailing overt behaviour. For example, the sentence `the man is angry' can be reduced without loss of meaning to a purely physical description of the behaviours performed consistent with anger, such as yelling or thumping. The ontological implications of Hempel's theory are that mental states are only comprised of their ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays. Write better papers. Get better grades. Already a member? Login

synonymous with the actions observed in one experiencing pain. Additionally, hard behaviourism does not conflict with the problem of other minds. Whilst other theories relating to the mental face the challenge of not knowing whether other minds experience mental phenomena, hard behaviourism poses that mental states are directly accessible via observing overt physical action, therefore verifying others possess mental phenomena.
One criticism of hard behaviourism is the self refutation of the principle followed in order to justify its translation. The verification principle, a cornerstone of logical positivism poses conflicts within itself, as it is in itself neither empirically ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library. Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports, and research papers in 2 minutes or less.

CITE THIS PAGE: