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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
| 3975 | Folk psychology explains behaviour by reference to intentional states like belief and desire [Fodor] |
| 3977 | Laws are true generalisations which support counterfactuals and are confirmed by instances [Fodor] |
| 3976 | Intentional science needs objects with semantic and causal properties, and which obey laws [Fodor] |
| 3980 | Intentional states and processes may be causal relations among mental symbols [Fodor] |
| 3978 | Associations are held to connect Ideas together in the way the world is connected together [Fodor] |
| 3981 | Most psychological properties seem to be multiply realisable [Fodor] |
| 3982 | How could the extrinsic properties of thoughts supervene on their intrinsic properties? [Fodor] |