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Full Idea
Highly teleological characterisations, unlike naïve and explicated mental characterisations, have the virtue of shading off fairly smoothly into (more) brutely physical ones.
Clarification
'Teleology' concerns purposes
Gist of Idea
Teleological characterisations shade off smoothly into brutely physical ones
Source
William Lycan (Consciousness [1987], 4.3)
Book Ref
Lycan,William G.: 'Consciousness' [MIT 1995], p.43
A Reaction
Thus the purpose of a car engine, and a spark plug, and the spark, and the temperature, and the vibration of molecules show a fading away of the overt purpose, disappearing into the pointless activity of electrons and quantum levels.
| 7438 | A causal theory of mentality would be improved by a teleological element [Armstrong] |
| 6533 | Mental types are a subclass of teleological types at a high level of functional abstraction [Lycan] |
| 6535 | Teleological characterisations shade off smoothly into brutely physical ones [Lycan] |
| 5499 | A mental state is a functional realisation of a brain state when it serves the purpose of the organism [Lycan] |
| 6378 | Teleological functions explain why a trait exists; causal-role functions say what it does [Polger] |