Folk Psychology as Simulation

 

Christopher Altman
Pierre Laclede Honors College

 

In his article on folk psychology, Churchland goes on to state that in all likelihood, folk psychology will eventually replaced by neuroscience.  Folk psychology has been in use with some rate of success for quite long enough to establish itself as a legitimate field of study.  It is indeed true that neuroscience has profound implications concerning behavior and mental processes, but to say that it will entirely displace the whole of folk psychology is unlikely.  Human behavior contains a diverse array of characteristics and possibilities that will never cease being a focus of study.

 

It is far more likely that as our understanding of neuroscience grows, its data will be incorporated into the field of folk psychology.  Just as neuroscience evolves according to observations made in the laboratory, folk psychology has evolved observing behaviors and response to different lines of therapy.  Future models of behavior based upon neurophysiological perspectives will become more and more accurate; pharmacological treatments will become more precise, and a vast line of mental-enhancement drugs will be developed over the next 50 - 75 years. 

 

All of these support the neurological viewpoint, but folk psychology in its entirety will not collapse; rather new discoveries will in neuroscience will clarify and explain the basis for prior-developed treatments in folk psychology.  It is far more likely that we will see changes in folk psychology in the form of clarification that it is likely that we will see these revisions in the abandonment of the system.

 

“Churchland thinks this a sign that folk psychology is a bad theory; but it could be a sign that it is no theory at all—not, at least, in the accepted sense of (roughly) a system of laws implicitly defining a set of terms.  Instead it might be just the capacity for practical reasoning, supplemented by a special use of a childish and primitive capacity—for pretend play.

 

Such an intrinsic and universal manner of relating to another individual is likely not to be a theory at all, as indeed it is the natural manner in which we relate to one another on a daily basis.  This manner of perceiving others is as central to experience as the manner in which we perceive ourselves.

 

On predicting one’s own behavior: the ability to predict one’s own actions is central to the concept of free will, a notion that eliminative materialism would contradict.  However we use it in our everyday activities without giving it a second thought.  The ability to predict the actions of those around us is a central and necessary condition to our communication with them; without our ability to predict another’s actions meaningful communication becomes impossible.  On most occasions this takes place at a preverbal level- the ability to place oneself in another’s shoes is a developed skill which we all use and take for granted.

 

Hypothetico-practical reasoning and attribution of belief are also regularly used and must especially be developed in such situations as acquiring a new language and set of norms.  I spent a year abroad, and many of the actions deemed normal in the culture that I found myself would be judged abnormal in this culture.  Many of the daily interactions which we take for granted are in fact highly complex behavioral responses which have become habituated into our perspectives, and these beliefs and norms can vary widely from culture to culture.