more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
Defining most mental states seems to requiring citing other mental states - but perhaps behaviourists can define them all simultaneously
Gist of Idea
Maybe behaviourists should define mental states as a group
Source
Georges Rey (Contemporary Philosophy of Mind [1997], 5.3)
Book Ref
Rey,Georges: 'Contemporary Philosophy of Mind' [Blackwell 1997], p.154
A Reaction
This is an interesting strategy for trying to avoid the well known circularity of attempting to define mental states in behavioural terms. Behaviourism won't go away.