Intentionality and physical systems
Philosophy of Science 32 (June):200-214 (1970)
| Abstract | Intentionality is characteristic of many psychological phenomena. It is commonly held by philosophers that intentionality cannot be ascribed to purely physical systems. This view does not merely deny that psychological language can be reduced to physiological language. It also claims that the appropriateness of some psychological explanation excludes the possibility of any underlying physiological or causal account adequate to explain intentional behavior. This is a thesis which I do not accept. I shall argue that physical systems of a specific sort will show the characteristic features of intentionality. Psychological subjects are, under an alternative description, purely physical systems of a certain sort. The intentional description and the physical description are logically distinct, and are not intertranslatable. Nevertheless, the features of intentionality may be explained by a purely causal account, in the sense that they may be shown to be totally dependent upon physical processes | |||||||||
| Keywords | Causation Intentionality Physical System Science | |||||||||
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Nicholas S. Thompson & Patrick G. Derr (1993). The Intentionality of Some Ethological Terms. Behavior and Philosophy 2 (21):15-24.
Tim Crane (2007). Intentionalism. In Ansgar Beckermann & Brian P. McLaughlin (eds.), Oxford Handbook to the Philosophy of Mind. Oxford University Press.
Amir Horowitz (1990). Intentional and Physical Relations. Manuscrito 13 (1):55-67.
Peter Kroes (1989). Structural Analogies Between Physical Systems. British Journal for the Philosophy of Science 40 (2):145-154.
Ard Van Moer (2006). The Intentionality of Formal Systems. Foundations of Science 11 (1-2).
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