[Wittrs] When is "brain talk" really dualism?
- From: Glen Sizemore <gmsizemore2@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:29:16 -0700 (PDT)
Say one has a text that says things like "the mind sees," or "the mind
understands" or "the mind makes decisions" etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. Now, one
simply substitutes the word "brain" for "mind." Is one thereby NOT a dualist?
There are, of course, two related problems here: the first is that it is
nonsense to say that the mind does things that a person is said to do; this is
language taking a holiday. The second problem is that there is the implication
that the "mind doing things" is somehow an explanation of people doing things.
There are those here that really want to say that "mental states" are the cause
of behavior; mental "possessions like "intentions" are the cause of the
behavior that we label "intentional." These are the same sorts of people that
want to say that Wittgenstein is an "operationalist." That is, his focus on
actual behavioral episodes is really saying that the observable behavior is an
"indication" of the "real" issue, which is the
mental intention. When Wittgenstein says that "meaning is use," he does not
mean that use is an "indication" of some mental possession called "meaning"
that is somehow the cause of the utterance. Wittgenstein is often quite clear
about the cause of an utterance; in several places he actually uses the term
"training." Our social training (of course a Skinnerian view would go farther
and say exactly what is meant by "training" - in this sense behaviorism extends
Wittgenstein)) is the cause of utterances. He is not saying that training
"deposits" meanings in our mind or our brain and this "deposit" is then the
"real cause" of our utterances. Yet, this is exactly the implication of what
has been suggested by some members of this group. It does not matter that they
turn around and say "that is not what I am really saying." Ask yourself this:
"Does the brain cause behavior?" If you answer "yes," then you are a mentalist,
and a dualist. It is TRAINING that
causes behavior. The brain somehow mediates this function, and it does so in
largely unknown ways.
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