Logical behaviorism

Last updated

In the philosophy of mind, logical behaviorism (also known as analytical behaviorism) [1] is the thesis that mental concepts can be explained in terms of behavioral concepts. [2]

Contents

Logical behaviorism was first stated by the Vienna Circle, especially Rudolf Carnap. [2] Other philosophers with sympathies for behaviorism included C. G. Hempel, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and W. V. O. Quine (1960). [2] [3] A more moderate form of analytical behaviorism was put forward by the Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle in his book The Concept of Mind (1949). [4] [2]

Overview

Generally speaking, analytic behaviourism is the view that propositions about the mind, or about mental states more generally, are reducible to propositions about behaviour. For example, a dualist would take 'Finbarr is in pain' to refer to a private, non-physical mental state within Finbarr's mind. But a behaviourist would say that 'Finbarr is in pain' simply refers to Finbarr's behaviour, or his disposition to behave in a certain way. So, the behaviourist might argue that if Finbarr was crying, and this was the reason that the mental state of pain was attributed to Finbarr, then 'Finbarr is in pain' reduces to 'Finbarr is crying'. In other words, 'Finbarr is in pain' means the same thing as 'Finbarr is crying' as, for a behaviourist, statements about mental states merely refer to people's behaviour, or their dispositions to show certain behaviour (pain behaviour, in Finbarr's case). [5]

Gilbert Ryle

Following Hempel's behaviourist theory (sometimes called hard behaviourism), which alleged that all propositions about mental states were reducible, without loss of meaning, to propositions about bodily states and behaviour, Gilbert Ryle produced a modified, less extreme form of behaviourism (sometimes called soft behaviourism). Ryle sets out in The Concept of Mind to destroy the illusion of Cartesian Dualism, which he says has produced a widespread acceptance of the 'dogma of the ghost in the machine'- the belief that the mind is an immaterial 'thing' caged within a body. To introduce his behaviourism, Ryle proposes his great criticism of Cartesianism: that it performs a category mistake. Ryle believes that mind-body dualism mistakenly puts the mind in the category of a 'thing', a non-physical entity that exists, driving our actions. But, says Ryle, the mind is not a thing. It is simply a way of talking about behaviour, specifically the dispositions of people to act in certain ways. So, whereas for Hempel 'Finbarr is in pain' reduces to 'Finbarr is crying', Ryle's soft dispositional analysis might say that it means 'Finbarr has a disposition to cry, or shout in pain, or hold onto something for support'. In other words, the mind is not a thing- propositions about mental states are instead a way to express the dispositions of people to act in certain ways.

Criticisms

Issues raised by Hilary Putnam

Hilary Putnam criticises behaviourism by arguing that it confuses the symptoms of mental states (behaviour) with the mental states themselves. Mental states, says Putnam, are distinct from behaviour, and this is something that behaviourism overlooks. Putnam proposes a thought experiment to show the distinctness of mental states from behaviour, and therefore show behaviourism to be false. In Brains and Behaviour, Putnam gives the example of 'X-Worlders', sometimes called 'super-super Spartans'. These are great warriors who have so strongly repressed the urge to display signs of pain that they no longer have any pain behaviour, nor any disposition to display pain behaviour. When an X-Worlder is stabbed, they feel a terrible pain, and yet they show no pain behaviour, nor do they feel any disposition to show their pain. This, says Putnam, shows behaviourism to be false- in this situation, there is no corresponding behaviour with the X-Worlder's pain, showing mental states to be distinct from behaviour.

Mental states cannot be defined satisfactorily in terms of behaviour

It has also been argued that behaviourist analysis of mental state terms can never truly be adequately completed. This is due, in large part, to the fact that mental states are multiply realisable in behaviour. In other words, the same mental state can be manifested by an infinite number of behaviours. For example, when Finbarr feels pain, he can scream. Or shout. Or do nothing. Or cry himself to sleep. The number of pain behaviours that Finbarr can display is infinite. But, in order to accurately define a mental state in terms of behaviour, all the possible ways in which a mental state might be manifested need to be taken into account. But the ways mental states can be reflected in behaviour are infinite, showing that mental states cannot be adequately defined in terms of behaviour. This is also an issue for Ryle's soft behaviourism, as someone who is, for example, angry has dispositions to manifest this behaviour in an infinite number of ways.

Another issue, on top of multiple realisability, is the fact that behavioural analysis of mental states becomes circular. According to its critics, behaviourism neglects that whether a mental state is manifested in behaviour depends on its interaction with other mental states. For example, my mental state of wanting to drink my glass of water might not be manifested in behaviour (ie. by me drinking the water) if I believe that my water is poisoned. Ryle says that 'John wants to drink' the water means 'John will drink the water if... or if... or if...', where the 'if...' expresses a condition for John drinking the water- for example, John might drink the water if he's thirsty, or if he's tired, or if he's hallucinating and thinks that it's magical water. But whether John drinks the water is not as straightforward as one disposition to drink water or not- the desire to drink the water also depends on other mental states. If John thinks the water is poisoned, he will not drink. If John does not want to be needing the toilet within the hour, he will not drink the water. Behaviourism needs to recognise all of these other mental states which affect our dispositions, and yet this simply introduces more mental state terminology into the behavioural analysis. This mental state terminology must then be analysed in terms of behaviour to complete the analysis, which will in turn introduce more mental state terminology, as these other mental states that have been introduced also depend on other mental states. Therefore, the analysis from mental state to behaviour is circular and cannot be completed.

The 'Asymmetry' Objection

Behaviourists hold that propositions about mental states are about behaviour. But this does not seem to account for the asymmetry between how I talk about my own mental states and the mental states of others. For a hard behaviourist, the proposition 'I'm afraid' is apparently reducible to a proposition about behaviour- in other words, it means the same thing as a proposition about behaviour. But when I say that I'm afraid, I am not referring to my behaviour. I don't mean 'I'm shivering and crying and have a frown on my face.' I'm referring to my mental state of fear. Therefore, it would seem that the way I talk about my own mental states and the mental states of others are radically different. I do not need to observe my own behaviour to know I'm in pain. I just know, through introspection, which would show that a purely behavioural analysis of mental states is inadequate. I apply mental states to myself not because of my behaviour but because I am experiencing the mental states themselves.

Etymology

Logical behaviorism is called "logical", after the idea adopted by Bertrand Russell, that mathematics can be described in terms of formal logic, using Set Theory, and thus make it "scientific", "provable", "specific", consistent and "truthful". In a similar way, it was thought by the Vienna Circle that the phenomena of human mental states such as feelings, perceptions, imaginations etc. can be described in terms of a tendency to behave in a certain way, which could then be tested and explained scientifically through the methods of Behaviorism, whereby everything consists of stimulus-response pairs, with various types of origins and different types of reinforcement. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

Logical positivism, later called logical empiricism, and both of which together are also known as neopositivism, is a movement whose central thesis is the verification principle. This theory of knowledge asserts that only statements verifiable through direct observation or logical proof are meaningful in terms of conveying truth value, information or factual content. Starting in the late 1920s, groups of philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians formed the Berlin Circle and the Vienna Circle, which, in these two cities, would propound the ideas of logical positivism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mind</span> Faculties responsible for mental phenomena

The mind is that which thinks, imagines, remembers, wills, and senses, or is the set of faculties responsible for such phenomena. The mind is also associated with experiencing perception, pleasure and pain, belief, desire, intention, and emotion. The mind can include conscious and non-conscious states as well as sensory and non-sensory experiences.

In philosophy, physicalism is the metaphysical thesis that "everything is physical", that there is "nothing over and above" the physical, or that everything supervenes on the physical. Physicalism is a form of ontological monism—a "one substance" view of the nature of reality as opposed to a "two-substance" or "many-substance" (pluralism) view. Both the definition of "physical" and the meaning of physicalism have been debated.

In the philosophy of mind, functionalism is the thesis that each and every mental state is constituted solely by its functional role, which means its causal relation to other mental states, sensory inputs, and behavioral outputs. Functionalism developed largely as an alternative to the identity theory of mind and behaviorism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jerry Fodor</span> American philosopher (1935–2017)

Jerry Alan Fodor was an American philosopher and the author of many crucial works in the fields of philosophy of mind and cognitive science. His writings in these fields laid the groundwork for the modularity of mind and the language of thought hypotheses, and he is recognized as having had "an enormous influence on virtually every portion of the philosophy of mind literature since 1960." At the time of his death in 2017, he held the position of State of New Jersey Professor of Philosophy, Emeritus, at Rutgers University, and had taught previously at the City University of New York Graduate Center and MIT.

Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex evoked by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that individual's history, including especially reinforcement and punishment contingencies, together with the individual's current motivational state and controlling stimuli. Although behaviorists generally accept the important role of heredity in determining behavior, they focus primarily on environmental events. The cognitive revolution of the late 20th century largely replaced behaviorism as an explanatory theory with cognitive psychology, which unlike behaviorism examines internal mental states.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Ryle</span> British philosopher (1900–1976)

Gilbert Ryle was a British philosopher, principally known for his critique of Cartesian dualism, for which he coined the phrase "ghost in the machine." He was a representative of the generation of British ordinary language philosophers who shared Ludwig Wittgenstein's approach to philosophical problems.

In philosophy, Ryle's regress is a classic argument against cognitivist theories, and concludes that such theories are essentially meaningless as they do not explain what they purport to.

<i>The Concept of Mind</i> 1949 book by Gilbert Ryle

The Concept of Mind is a 1949 book by philosopher Gilbert Ryle, in which the author argues that "mind" is "a philosophical illusion hailing chiefly from René Descartes and sustained by logical errors and 'category mistakes' which have become habitual."

<i>The Ghost in the Machine</i> 1967 book by Arthur Koestler

The Ghost in the Machine is a 1967 book about philosophical psychology by Arthur Koestler. The title is a phrase coined by the Oxford philosopher Gilbert Ryle to describe the Cartesian dualist account of the mind–body relationship. Koestler shares with Ryle the view that the mind of a person is not an independent non-material entity, temporarily inhabiting and governing the body. The work attempts to explain humanity's self-destructive tendency in terms of individual and collective functioning, philosophy, and overarching, cyclical political–historical dynamics, peaking in the nuclear weapons arena.

A mental state, or a mental property, is a state of mind of a person. Mental states comprise a diverse class, including perception, pain/pleasure experience, belief, desire, intention, emotion, and memory. There is controversy concerning the exact definition of the term. According to epistemic approaches, the essential mark of mental states is that their subject has privileged epistemic access while others can only infer their existence from outward signs. Consciousness-based approaches hold that all mental states are either conscious themselves or stand in the right relation to conscious states. Intentionality-based approaches, on the other hand, see the power of minds to refer to objects and represent the world as the mark of the mental. According to functionalist approaches, mental states are defined in terms of their role in the causal network independent of their intrinsic properties. Some philosophers deny all the aforementioned approaches by holding that the term "mental" refers to a cluster of loosely related ideas without an underlying unifying feature shared by all. Various overlapping classifications of mental states have been proposed. Important distinctions group mental phenomena together according to whether they are sensory, propositional, intentional, conscious or occurrent. Sensory states involve sense impressions like visual perceptions or bodily pains. Propositional attitudes, like beliefs and desires, are relations a subject has to a proposition. The characteristic of intentional states is that they refer to or are about objects or states of affairs. Conscious states are part of the phenomenal experience while occurrent states are causally efficacious within the owner's mind, with or without consciousness. An influential classification of mental states is due to Franz Brentano, who argues that there are only three basic kinds: presentations, judgments, and phenomena of love and hate.

Semantic holism is a theory in the philosophy of language to the effect that a certain part of language, be it a term or a complete sentence, can only be understood through its relations to a larger segment of language. There is substantial controversy, however, as to exactly what the larger segment of language in question consists of. In recent years, the debate surrounding semantic holism, which is one among the many forms of holism that are debated and discussed in contemporary philosophy, has tended to centre on the view that the "whole" in question consists of an entire language.

Type physicalism is a physicalist theory in the philosophy of mind. It asserts that mental events can be grouped into types, and can then be correlated with types of physical events in the brain. For example, one type of mental event, such as "mental pains" will, presumably, turn out to be describing one type of physical event.

A dog behaviourist is a person who works in modifying or changing behaviour in dogs. They can be experienced dog handlers, who have developed their experience over many years of hands-on experience, or have formal training up to degree level. Some have backgrounds in veterinary science, animal science, zoology, sociology, biology, or animal behaviour, and have applied their experience and knowledge to the interaction between humans and dogs. Professional certification may be offered through either industry associations or local educational institutions. There is however no compulsion for behaviourists to be a member of a professional body nor to take formal training.

Ullin Thomas Place, usually cited as U. T. Place, was a British philosopher and psychologist. Along with J. J. C. Smart, he developed the identity theory of mind. After several years at the University of Adelaide, he taught for some years in the Department of Philosophy in the University of Leeds.

The analytic–synthetic distinction is a semantic distinction used primarily in philosophy to distinguish between propositions that are of two types: analytic propositions and synthetic propositions. Analytic propositions are true or not true solely by virtue of their meaning, whereas synthetic propositions' truth, if any, derives from how their meaning relates to the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anecdotal cognitivism</span>

Anecdotal cognitivism is a method of research using anecdotal, and anthropomorphic evidence through the observation of animal behaviour.

Philosophy of mind is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of the mind and its relation to the body and the external world.

Functional psychology or functionalism refers to a psychological school of thought that was a direct outgrowth of Darwinian thinking which focuses attention on the utility and purpose of behavior that has been modified over years of human existence. Edward L. Thorndike, best known for his experiments with trial-and-error learning, came to be known as the leader of the loosely defined movement. This movement arose in the U.S. in the late 19th century in direct contrast to Edward Titchener's structuralism, which focused on the contents of consciousness rather than the motives and ideals of human behavior. Functionalism denies the principle of introspection, which tends to investigate the inner workings of human thinking rather than understanding the biological processes of the human consciousness.

"The Nature of Mind" is a philosophical essay by David Armstrong, originally published in The Nature of Mind and Other Essays in 1980. In this essay, Armstrong outlines a philosophical account of the mind that is compatible with the Materialist scientific view of the mind. He arrives at a theory of Central-State Materialism, a synthesis between Descartes' dualism and Gilbert Ryle's dispositional behaviourism.

References

  1. ↑ Alex Barber, Robert J Stainton (eds.), Concise Encyclopedia of Philosophy of Language and Linguistics, Elsevier, 2010, p. 33.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Zalta, Edward N. (ed.). "Behaviorism". Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy .
  3. ↑ Hempel, C. G. The Logical Analysis of psychology . 1935.
  4. ↑ Neil Tennant, Introducing Philosophy: God, Mind, World, and Logic, Routledge, 2015, p. 299.
  5. ↑ Graham, George. "Behaviorism". Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  6. ↑ See Brains and Behavior, Hilary Putnam, 1968 (On the Purdue University website)


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.