The function of folk psychology: mind reading or mind shaping?

Abstract

I argue for two claims. First I argue against the consensus view that accurate behavioral prediction based on accurate representation of cognitive states, i.e. mind reading, is the sustaining function of propositional attitude ascription. This practice cannot have been selected in evolution and cannot persist, in virtue of its predictive utility, because there are principled reasons why it is inadequate as a tool for behavioral prediction. Second I give reasons that favor an alternative account of the sustaining function of propositional attitude ascription. I argue that it serves a mind-shaping function. Roughly, propositional attitude ascription enables human beings to set up regulative ideals that function to mold behavior so as to make it easier to coordinate with.

Mindshaping and the intentional control of the mind

“…Our ability to create and respond to these narrative structures of sense-making folk psychology, or the norms of intelligibility that guide our actions, has also been explored by Daniel Hutto (2004 and Tad Zawidski (2008 . This assumption is justified by the efficacy of mechanism and practices of mind shaping."…”

“…To clarify this idea and its implications, we will provide some examples from the work of authors (see Hutto, 2004Hutto, , 2007McGeer, 2007;Zawidski, 2008) that have diverged from the traditional understanding of folk-psychological practices that treats them as primarily consisting of mindreading.…”

“…The social framework wherein our actions take place is a constant influence on our minds and actions and our understanding of human mentality depends on our social interactions and the common expectations and commitments that constitute these interactions. An appropriate label for this approach to explaining our understanding of human minds is "mindshaping" (Zawidski, 2008). As the friends of mindshaping have it, "minds are as much made as discovered" (McGeer, 1996, p.512).…”

The expressive function of folk psychology

“…Concerning prediction, the received view has to deal with the tractability problem (Zawidzki, 2008(Zawidzki, , 2013, i.e., the impossibility of propositional attitude ascriptions to produce reliable predictions. In principle, a particular course of action is compatible with possessing many different mental states.…”

“…On the other hand, simulation-theory contends that the process is carried out by different simulation mechanisms based on introspections or off-line sub-personal mechanisms (Goldman, 1989;Heal, 1996). 3 In the last decade, a group of dissenters have spoken out against the received view (Andrews, 2012;Hutto, 2004;McGeer, 2007McGeer, , 2015Millikan, 2004;Strijbos and Bruin, 2012;Zawidzki, 2008Zawidzki, , 2013. The main strategy of this heterodox view has been to undermine the centrality that the received view has assigned to mindreading; i.e., these scholars share their refusal of the idea that mindreading is the linchpin of social cognition.…”