The Unconscious Mind Worry: A Mechanistic-Explanatory Strategy
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Published:2022-04-22
Issue:1
Volume:90
Page:39-59
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ISSN:0031-8248
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Container-title:Philosophy of Science
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language:en
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Short-container-title:Philos. sci.
Abstract
AbstractRecent findings in different areas of psychology and cognitive science have brought the unconscious mind back to center stage. However, the unconscious mind worry remains: What renders unconscious phenomena mental? I suggest a new strategy for answering this question, which rests on the idea that categorizing unconscious phenomena as “mental” should be scientifically useful relative to the explanatory research goals. I argue that this is the case if by categorizing an unconscious phenomenon as “mental” one picks out explanatorily relevant similarities to a corresponding paradigmatically mental conscious phenomenon. Explanatory relevance is spelled out in terms of mechanistic norms.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
History and Philosophy of Science,Philosophy,History