Skip to Main Content

Mind as Metaphor: A Defence of Mental Fictionalism

Online ISBN:
9780191990304
Print ISBN:
9780198879626
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

Mind as Metaphor: A Defence of Mental Fictionalism

Adam Toon
Adam Toon
Senior Lecturer, University of Exeter
Find on
Published online:
20 April 2023
Published in print:
27 April 2023
Online ISBN:
9780191990304
Print ISBN:
9780198879626
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This book develops a new approach to the mind called mental fictionalism. The key idea behind this approach is that the mind is a useful fiction. The book begins with our ordinary conception of the mind (known as folk psychology). At present, the dominant interpretation of folk psychology sees it as an attempt to describe our inner machinery (a view the author calls Cartesianism). The representational theory of mind (or representationalism) argues that our folk theory is true, and that our thoughts (especially our propositional attitudes, such as beliefs and desires) are representations inside our heads. Mental fictionalism offers a new interpretation of folk psychology. According to mental fictionalism, when we attribute beliefs and desires, we do not claim that people have representations inside their heads; we merely pretend that they do. Our ordinary conception of the mind is fundamentally metaphorical: we project the ‘outer world’ of human culture (especially language) onto the ‘inner world’ of the mind. This is an enormously useful way of making sense of people and their behaviour. But we should not forget that this inner world is only a fiction.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close