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Single Idea 3975

[filed under theme 18. Thought / A. Modes of Thought / 4. Folk Psychology ]

Full Idea

Folk psychology is primarily intentional explanation; it's the idea that people's behaviour can be explained by reference to the contents of their beliefs and desires.

Clarification

'Intentional' states are 'about' something, with meaning and content

Gist of Idea

Folk psychology explains behaviour by reference to intentional states like belief and desire

Source

Jerry A. Fodor (Jerry A. Fodor on himself [1994], p.292)

Book Ref

'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.292

A Reaction

Sounds good. To reject folk psychology (as reductivists tend to) is to reject the existence of significant intentional states which have causal properties

The 19 ideas with the same theme [is the truth about minds found in normal speech?]:

2074 Can we give a scientific, computational account of folk psychology? [Putnam]
3462 We don't postulate folk psychology, we experience it [Searle]
6996 Folk psychology covers input, internal role, and output [Jackson]
3387 A culture without our folk psychology would be quite baffling [Kim]
3386 Folk psychology has been remarkably durable [Kim]
3394 Maybe folk psychology is a simulation, not a theory [Kim]
3410 Folk psychology has adapted to Freudianism [Kim]
3992 Folk psychology makes good predictions, by associating mental states with causal roles [Lewis]
7518 If folk psychology gives a network of causal laws, that fits neatly with functionalism [Churchland,PM]
7519 Many mental phenomena are totally unexplained by folk psychology [Churchland,PM]
7520 Folk psychology never makes any progress, and is marginalised by modern science [Churchland,PM]
3987 Like the 'centre of gravity', desires and beliefs are abstract concepts with no actual existence [Dennett]
3177 You couldn't drive a car without folk psychology [Dennett]
3975 Folk psychology explains behaviour by reference to intentional states like belief and desire [Fodor]
2988 Folk psychology is the only explanation of behaviour we have [Fodor]
2987 Folk psychology works badly for alien cultures [Lyons]
4607 Folk psychology and neuroscience are no more competitors than cartography and geology are [Heil]
3112 Folk psychology is ridiculously dualist in its assumptions [Segal]
15680 Folk essentialism rests on belief in natural kinds, in hidden properties, and on words indicating structures [Gelman]