Category Archives: Teleological Approach
Emergent Properties
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/properties-emergent/ Emergence is a notorious philosophical term of art. A variety of theorists have appropriated it for their purposes ever since George Henry Lewes gave it a philosophical sense in his 1875 Problems of Life and Mind. We might roughly … Continue reading
Teleology & Mental Content
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/content-teleological/ Teleological theories of mental content try to explain the contents of mental representations by appealing to a teleological notion of function. According to teleological theories of content, what a representation represents depends on the functions of the systems that … Continue reading
Functionalism [standard]
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/functionalism/ Functionalism is the doctrine that what makes something a thought, desire, pain (or any other type of mental state) depends not on its internal constitution, but solely on its function, or the role it plays, in the cognitive system … Continue reading
Pragmatism of Functional Modelling
Functional Illusion? The necessity of functional models to scientific inquiry. The necessity of a subjective point of view to human functionality. Per Harris: may need to spend some time differentiating between what I mean and “functionalism” proper.
Teleological Approach
As a method that has worked well for the biological sciences. Need to clarify that although parts of this paper addresses religious experience, the use of teleology is not an inference to or argument for a “designer” but refers to … Continue reading