
Contents
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8.1 General Remarks 8.1 General Remarks
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8.2 Homuncular Functionalism and Mechanistic Explanation 8.2 Homuncular Functionalism and Mechanistic Explanation
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8.3 Seeking a Psychological Exception 8.3 Seeking a Psychological Exception
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8.4 Discharging Discharging 8.4 Discharging Discharging
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8.5 Concluding Remarks 8.5 Concluding Remarks
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8 Literalism and Mechanistic Explanation
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Published:May 2018
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Abstract
Chapters 8 and 9 present objections to Literalism inspired by its implications. Chapter 8 presents the homuncular functionalist view of psychological explanation, which holds that in order to naturalize the mind we need to posit “homunculi”, or ever-simpler capacities, to avoid explaining intelligence with intelligence. Otherwise one commits the homuncular fallacy. The Literalist responds that the fallacy is not a fallacy. Many contemporary mechanistic explanations commonly ascribe the same capacities at many levels in the same decomposition, and there is no plausible way to carve out an exception for psychology. It reinterprets the demand for “discharging” the psychological capacities in terms of finding mathematical models to illuminate old concepts rather than inventing new ones. It also argues that decompositional hierarchies of simple and basic capacities and simple and basic objects are not mirror images of each other.
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