ⲠRosenberg and the Churchlands are anti-realists about intentionalityâ they deny that our mental states can truly be âaboutâ anything in the world..â˛
Taken literally this is insane. It means no one has ever thought about going out to the shops for some milk. If itâs extended to language (and why wouldnât it?) it means that we canât say that science sometimes succeeds in representing the worldâs reasonably well, since nothing represents anything. It is also very different from the view that mental states are real, but they are behavioral dispositions, not inner representations in the brain, since the latter view is perfectly compatible with known facts like âpeople sometimes want a beerâ.
Iâm also suspicious of what the world âtrulyâ is doing in this sentence if itâs not redundant. What exactly is the difference between âour mental states can be about things in the worldâ and âtruly our mental states can be about things in the worldâ?
ⲠRosenberg and the Churchlands are anti-realists about intentionalityâ they deny that our mental states can truly be âaboutâ anything in the world..â˛
Taken literally this is insane. It means no one has ever thought about going out to the shops for some milk. If itâs extended to language (and why wouldnât it?) it means that we canât say that science sometimes succeeds in representing the worldâs reasonably well, since nothing represents anything. It is also very different from the view that mental states are real, but they are behavioral dispositions, not inner representations in the brain, since the latter view is perfectly compatible with known facts like âpeople sometimes want a beerâ.
Iâm also suspicious of what the world âtrulyâ is doing in this sentence if itâs not redundant. What exactly is the difference between âour mental states can be about things in the worldâ and âtruly our mental states can be about things in the worldâ?