Folk Psychology - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0631195157 ISBN 13: 9780631195153

Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell, 1995

Synopsis

Many philosophers and psychologists argue that normal adult human beings possess a primitive or 'folk' psychological theory. Recently, however, this theory has come under challenge from the simulation alternative . This alternative view says that human bings are able to predict and explain each others' actions by using the resources of their own minds to simuate the psychological etiology of the actions of others. The thirteen essays in this volume present the foundations of theory of mind debate, and are accompanied by an extensive introduction.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

With little or no formal teaching, human beings develop the capacity to deploy psychological concepts in predicting and explaining the actions and mental states of other members of the species. What is the basis for this capacity?

Many philosophers and psychologists argue that normal adult human beings possess a primitive or "folk" psychological theory. Recently, however, this theory has come under challenge from the simulation alternative. This alternative view says that human beings are able to predict and explain each others' actions by using the resources of their own minds to simulate the psychological etiology of the actions of others. The 13 essays in this volume present the foundations of theory of mind debate, and are accompanied by an extensive introduction. Accompanion volume, Mental Simulation: Evaluations and Applications, edited by Tony Stone and Martin Davies, Blackwells (1995) contains thirteen further essays, most of which appear there for the first time. Taken together, the two volumes offer a richly woven fabric of philosophical and psychological theory, which promises to yield real insight into the nature of mental lives.

About the Author:

Martin Davies is Wilde Reader in Mnetal Philosophy in the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Corpus Christi College. He was formerly a Lecturer and then Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London. He has published widely in the areas of philosophy of language, mind and psychology, and from 1989 to 1995 was Executive Editor of the Journal Mind and Langusge (Blackwell Publishers).

Tony Stone is Head of the Psychology Group and Director of the Modular Programme at King Alfred's College of Higher Education, Winchester. He has published papers on the philosophy of psychology, and is currently working on a book on the philosophical issues raised by cognitive neuropsychology.

About this edition

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0631195157
• ISBN 13: 9780631195153
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 312
• Editor: Davies Martin