I haven’t thought much about why it feels like we have goals (desires), so I look forward to that! I do think it’s quite possible that eliminativism about ‘beliefs’ and ‘desires’ will turn out to be the best way to go. Certainly, the language of ‘reinforcers’ fits well with our understanding of the reward-learning system in the brain.
Chapter 2 of Gary Drescher’s Good and Real attempts to address why it feels like we have goals. If the robot could learn to destroy hologram projectors and adapt to color-inverting lenses, the assertion “the robot wants to minimize blue objects” would have some explanatory virtue.
Yes, ‘folk psychology’ (beliefs+desires=intentional action) is a compelling theory because it works so successfully in everyday social interactions, but I’m wondering if Yvain has something more planned for why it feels (inside) like we have goals. My guess is that it’s because we use the same folk theory to explain our own behavior as to explain others’ behavior, but I’m wondering if Yvain has something else in mind.
I haven’t thought much about why it feels like we have goals (desires), so I look forward to that! I do think it’s quite possible that eliminativism about ‘beliefs’ and ‘desires’ will turn out to be the best way to go. Certainly, the language of ‘reinforcers’ fits well with our understanding of the reward-learning system in the brain.
Chapter 2 of Gary Drescher’s Good and Real attempts to address why it feels like we have goals. If the robot could learn to destroy hologram projectors and adapt to color-inverting lenses, the assertion “the robot wants to minimize blue objects” would have some explanatory virtue.
Yes, ‘folk psychology’ (beliefs+desires=intentional action) is a compelling theory because it works so successfully in everyday social interactions, but I’m wondering if Yvain has something more planned for why it feels (inside) like we have goals. My guess is that it’s because we use the same folk theory to explain our own behavior as to explain others’ behavior, but I’m wondering if Yvain has something else in mind.
Nope, pretty much that. I’ll be presenting a few studies to justify it, but I’m sure you’ve seen them before.
Ah. Well. They are fun studies. :)
It’s not obvious that folk psychology works well at all except regarding motor actions.