Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-c4f8m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T14:28:36.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Adaptive self-directed misbeliefs: More than just a rarefied phenomenon?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 January 2010

Tadeusz W. Zawidzki
Tadeusz W. Zawidzki
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052. zawidzki@gwu.eduhttp://www.gwu.edu/~philosop/faculty/Zawidzki.cfm
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

I argue that adaptive, self-directed misbeliefs are likely more prevalent and important than McKay & Dennett (M&D) claim. Humans often falsely interpret their own behavior in terms of culturally afforded categories. Despite their falsity, such self-interpretations are often adaptive because of our disposition to behave consistently with them. This makes us easier to interpret by similarly enculturated interactants.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 32 , Issue 6 , December 2009 , pp. 540 - 541
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carruthers, P. (2009) How we know our own minds: The relationship between mindreading and metacognition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 32(2):121–82.Google Scholar
Cash, M. (2008) Thoughts and oughts. Philosophical Explorations 11(2):93–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1978) Brainstorms: Philosophical essays on mind and psychology. MIT Press/A Bradford Book.Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (1987) The intentional stance. MIT Press.Google Scholar
Dennett, D. (1991) Consciousness explained. Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Dennett, D. C. (2006a) Breaking the spell: Religion as a natural phenomenon. Viking/Penguin Press.Google Scholar
Gazzaniga, M. (1995) Consciousness and the cerebral hemispheres. In: The cognitive neurosciences, first edition, ed. Gazzaniga, M., pp. 1391–400. MIT Press.Google Scholar