Lecture 1, Notes, 09/09/02
Drs. Deutsch and Mallon
I. What is the philosophy of mind?
A. An answer: an investigation of the nature of the mind.
1. Troubles with the answer
a. Presupposes that there is something properly called the nature of the mind. But perhaps the mental has seams.
b. Doesn’t distinguish philosophy of mind from psychology. Should it be distinguished? Phil. mind as speculative-psychology, primitive-psychology, or meta-psychology.
B. A better answer (?): an investigation of mental phenomena via the study of the structure of mental concepts. Phil. mind as an a priori pursuit: What are the essential features of various mental phenomena as revealed by the structure of our mental concepts?
(The contrast between empirical and conceptual pursuits: linguistics vs. phil. language.)
1. Troubles with the answer
a. Presupposes that my concepts match yours.
b. Skepticism about the fruitfulness of an a priori examination of certain concepts.
II. The puzzle of the epistemology of the mental: One acquires knowledge of ones own mental properties in a way different from the way in which one acquires knowledge of the mental properties of others. In one’s own case, one knows by ‘looking within’ or introspecting. In the case of others, one relies on verbal and other behavioral evidence.
If the content of mental concepts reflect their characteristic mode of ascription, then it looks as though the mental concepts I apply to myself are different from those that I apply to others. But they are not different.