′ Rosenberg and the Churchlands are anti-realists about intentionality— they deny that our mental states can truly be “about” anything in the world..′
Taken literally this is insane. It means no one has ever thought about going out to the shops for some milk. If it’s extended to language (and why wouldn’t it?) it means that we can’t say that science sometimes succeeds in representing the world’s 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 “people sometimes want a beer”.
I’m also suspicious of what the world “truly” is doing in this sentence if it’s not redundant. What exactly is the difference between “our mental states can be about things in the world” and “truly our mental states can be about things in the world”?
′ Rosenberg and the Churchlands are anti-realists about intentionality— they deny that our mental states can truly be “about” anything in the world..′
Taken literally this is insane. It means no one has ever thought about going out to the shops for some milk. If it’s extended to language (and why wouldn’t it?) it means that we can’t say that science sometimes succeeds in representing the world’s 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 “people sometimes want a beer”.
I’m also suspicious of what the world “truly” is doing in this sentence if it’s not redundant. What exactly is the difference between “our mental states can be about things in the world” and “truly our mental states can be about things in the world”?