123 ideas
3798 | An overexamined life is as bad as an unexamined one [Dennett] |
18559 | Philosophy is empty if it does not in some way depend on matters of fact [Machery] |
3801 | Rationality requires the assumption that things are either for better or worse [Dennett] |
18564 | Do categories store causal knowledge, or typical properties, or knowledge of individuals? [Machery] |
18604 | Are quick and slow categorisation the same process, or quite different? [Machery] |
18573 | For each category of objects (such as 'dog') an individual seems to have several concepts [Machery] |
18602 | A thing is classified if its features are likely to be generated by that category's causal laws [Machery] |
18565 | There may be ad hoc categories, such as the things to pack in your suitcase for a trip [Machery] |
14308 | We can bring dispositions into existence, as in creating an identifier [Dennett, by Mumford] |
18570 | There may be several ways to individuate things like concepts [Machery] |
12887 | A whole must have one characteristic, an internal relation, and a structure [Rescher/Oppenheim] |
7384 | Words are fixed by being attached to similarity clusters, without mention of 'essences' [Dennett] |
2526 | Philosophers regularly confuse failures of imagination with insights into necessity [Dennett] |
3802 | Why pronounce impossible what you cannot imagine? [Dennett] |
7374 | Light wavelengths entering the eye are only indirectly related to object colours [Dennett] |
2523 | That every mammal has a mother is a secure reality, but without foundations [Dennett] |
3795 | Causal theories require the "right" sort of link (usually unspecified) [Dennett] |
18616 | If a term doesn't pick out a kind, keeping it may block improvements in classification [Machery] |
18614 | Vertical arguments say eliminate a term if it picks out different natural kinds in different theories [Machery] |
18615 | Horizontal arguments say eliminate a term if it fails to pick out a natural kind [Machery] |
18609 | Psychologists use 'induction' as generalising a property from one category to another [Machery] |
18610 | 'Ampliative' induction infers that all members of a category have a feature found in some of them [Machery] |
7369 | Brains are essentially anticipation machines [Dennett] |
4608 | Minds are hard-wired, or trial-and-error, or experimental, or full self-aware [Dennett, by Heil] |
7393 | We can't draw a clear line between conscious and unconscious [Dennett] |
7367 | Perhaps the brain doesn't 'fill in' gaps in consciousness if no one is looking. [Dennett] |
4880 | Sentience comes in grades from robotic to super-human; we only draw a line for moral reasons [Dennett] |
2528 | Does consciousness need the concept of consciousness? [Dennett] |
2525 | Maybe language is crucial to consciousness [Dennett] |
7394 | Conscious events can only be explained in terms of unconscious events [Dennett] |
7391 | We can know a lot of what it is like to be a bat, and nothing important is unknown [Dennett] |
3158 | Theories of intentionality presuppose rationality, so can't explain it [Dennett] |
2527 | Unconscious intentionality is the foundation of the mind [Dennett] |
6624 | Dennett denies the existence of qualia [Dennett, by Lowe] |
4873 | What is it like to notice an uncomfortable position when you are asleep? [Dennett] |
7387 | "Qualia" can be replaced by complex dispositional brain states [Dennett] |
7658 | Obviously there can't be a functional anaylsis of qualia if they are defined by intrinsic properties [Dennett] |
7376 | We can't assume that dispositions will remain normal when qualia have been inverted [Dennett] |
7372 | In peripheral vision we see objects without their details, so blindsight is not that special [Dennett] |
7373 | Blindsight subjects glean very paltry information [Dennett] |
3797 | I am the sum total of what I directly control [Dennett] |
7385 | People accept blurred boundaries in many things, but insist self is All or Nothing [Dennett] |
4881 | Being a person must involve having second-order beliefs and desires (about beliefs and desires) [Dennett] |
7383 | The psychological self is an abstraction, not a thing in the brain [Dennett] |
7386 | Selves are not soul-pearls, but artefacts of social processes [Dennett] |
7381 | We tell stories about ourselves, to protect, control and define who we are [Dennett] |
7382 | We spin narratives about ourselves, and the audience posits a centre of gravity for them [Dennett] |
7370 | The brain is controlled by shifting coalitions, guided by good purposeful habits [Dennett] |
7655 | The work done by the 'homunculus in the theatre' must be spread amongst non-conscious agencies [Dennett] |
3800 | You can be free even though force would have prevented you doing otherwise [Dennett, by PG] |
3803 | Can we conceive of a being with a will freer than our own? [Dennett] |
3791 | Awareness of thought is a step beyond awareness of the world [Dennett] |
3794 | Foreknowledge permits control [Dennett] |
7379 | If an epiphenomenon has no physical effects, it has to be undetectable [Dennett] |
7365 | Dualism wallows in mystery, and to accept it is to give up [Dennett] |
3159 | Beliefs and desires aren't real; they are prediction techniques [Dennett] |
3796 | The active self is a fiction created because we are ignorant of our motivations [Dennett] |
3161 | If mind is just an explanation, the explainer must have beliefs [Rey on Dennett] |
3986 | The 'intentional stance' is a way of interpreting an entity by assuming it is rational and self-aware [Dennett] |
2530 | Could a robot be made conscious just by software? [Dennett] |
7371 | All functionalism is 'homuncular', of one grain size or another [Dennett] |
4875 | We descend from robots, and our intentionality is composed of billions of crude intentional systems [Dennett] |
4879 | There is no more anger in adrenaline than silliness in a bottle of whiskey [Dennett] |
7657 | Intelligent agents are composed of nested homunculi, of decreasing intelligence, ending in machines [Dennett] |
7656 | I don't deny consciousness; it just isn't what people think it is [Dennett] |
7366 | It is arbitrary to say which moment of brain processing is conscious [Dennett] |
4876 | Maybe there is a minimum brain speed for supporting a mind [Dennett] |
7380 | Visual experience is composed of neural activity, which we find pleasing [Dennett] |
18562 | Connectionists cannot distinguish concept-memories from their background, or the processes [Machery] |
4878 | The materials for a mind only matter because of speed, and a need for transducers and effectors [Dennett] |
18561 | We can identify a set of cognitive capacities which are 'higher order' [Machery] |
3987 | Like the 'centre of gravity', desires and beliefs are abstract concepts with no actual existence [Dennett] |
3177 | You couldn't drive a car without folk psychology [Dennett] |
4874 | The predecessor and rival of the language of thought hypothesis is the picture theory of ideas [Dennett] |
2524 | A language of thought doesn't explain content [Dennett] |
7654 | What matters about neuro-science is the discovery of the functional role of the chemistry [Dennett] |
23803 | States have content if we can predict them well by assuming intentionality [Dennett, by Schulte] |
3984 | The nature of content is entirely based on its functional role [Dennett] |
18574 | Concepts for categorisation and for induction may be quite different [Machery] |
18588 | Concept theories aim at their knowledge, processes, format, acquisition, and location [Machery] |
18611 | We should abandon 'concept', and just use 'prototype', 'exemplar' and 'theory' [Machery] |
18567 | In the philosophy of psychology, concepts are usually introduced as constituents of thoughts [Machery] |
18569 | In philosophy theories of concepts explain how our propositional attitudes have content [Machery] |
18563 | By 'concept' psychologists mean various sorts of representation or structure [Machery] |
18558 | Concept theorists examine their knowledge, format, processes, acquisition and location [Machery] |
18557 | Psychologists treat concepts as long-term knowledge bodies which lead to judgements [Machery] |
18560 | Psychologist treat concepts as categories [Machery] |
18592 | The concepts OBJECT or AGENT may be innate [Machery] |
18566 | Concepts should contain working memory, not long-term, because they control behaviour [Machery] |
18584 | One hybrid theory combines a core definition with a prototype for identification [Machery] |
18585 | Heterogeneous concepts might have conflicting judgements, where hybrid theories will not [Machery] |
18578 | Concepts as definitions was rejected, and concepts as prototypes, exemplars or theories proposed [Machery] |
18575 | The concepts for a class typically include prototypes, and exemplars, and theories [Machery] |
18591 | Classical theory can't explain facts like typical examples being categorised quicker [Machery] |
18583 | Many categories don't seem to have a definition [Machery] |
18590 | Classical theory implies variety in processing times, but this does not generally occur [Machery] |
18594 | Knowing typical properties of things is especially useful in induction [Machery] |
18593 | The term 'prototype' is used for both typical category members, and the representation [Machery] |
18595 | Prototype theories are based on computation of similarities with the prototype [Machery] |
18596 | Prototype theorists don't tell us how we select the appropriate prototype [Machery] |
18603 | Maybe concepts are not the typical properties, but the ideal properties [Machery] |
18605 | It is more efficient to remember the prototype, than repeatedly create it from exemplars [Machery] |
18606 | The prototype view predicts that typical members are easier to categorise [Machery] |
18597 | Concepts as exemplars are based on the knowledge of properties of each particular [Machery] |
18598 | Exemplar theories need to explain how the relevant properties are selected from a multitude of them [Machery] |
18599 | In practice, known examples take priority over the rest of the set of exemplars [Machery] |
18600 | Theory Theory says category concepts are knowledge stores explaining membership [Machery] |
18601 | Theory Theory says concepts are explanatory knowledge, and concepts form domains [Machery] |
18607 | Theory theorists rely on best explanation, rather than on similarities [Machery] |
18608 | If categorisation is not by similarity, it seems to rely on what properties things might have [Machery] |
18587 | The theory account is sometimes labelled as 'knowledge' or 'explanation' in approach [Machery] |
18577 | The word 'grandmother' may be two concepts, with a prototype and a definition [Machery] |
4882 | Concepts are things we (unlike dogs) can think about, because we have language [Dennett] |
18589 | For behaviourists concepts are dispositions to link category members to names [Machery] |
2529 | Maybe there can be non-conscious concepts (e.g. in bees) [Dennett] |
18612 | Americans are more inclined to refer causally than the Chinese are [Machery] |
3983 | Learning is evolution in the brain [Dennett] |
4872 | Most people see an abortion differently if the foetus lacks a brain [Dennett] |
7368 | Originally there were no reasons, purposes or functions; since there were no interests, there were only causes [Dennett] |
18613 | Artifacts can be natural kinds, when they are the object of historical enquiry [Machery] |
3985 | Biology is a type of engineering, not a search for laws of nature [Dennett] |
4877 | Maybe plants are very slow (and sentient) animals, overlooked because we are faster? [Dennett] |
3804 | Darwin's idea was the best idea ever [Dennett] |