[Wittrs] Re: Wittgenstein and "Brain Scripts"
- From: "iro3isdx" <xznwrjnk-evca@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 03:57:21 -0000
--- In Wittrs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "SWM" <SWMirsky@...> wrote:
> In fact, Glen and Gerardo (who no longer seems to be participating
> here, from what I can see) have told us that real Behaviorism does
> not dismiss the things of the mind, it merely recognizes them as
> that other form of behavior, i.e., the covert kind (that which is
> hidden from observation). I have said I think this is a stretch,
> that it effectively makes all the things we don't usually call
> behavior, behavior too and for this reason it vitiates Behaviorism
> as a serious thesis.
Let me describe an incident from around 15 years ago. I was one of the
two examiners of a masters degree student. The particular student was
blind from birth, so we gave him an oral exam in place of the usual
written comprehensive exam.
What was very noticeable during the exam, and actually quite
disconcerting, was that when he was thinking about a question, his eyes
were jumping around. I guess that's the kind of rapid eye movement in
REM sleep, but he was not asleep. It was clear that this eye movement
was part of his thinking.
If you want to say that thinking involves the representation of ideas,
then it seems to me that this blind student was representing ideas in
patterns of eye movements. And if ideas that are part of thinking are
represented as motions, then it makes a lot of sense to say that
thinking is behavior.
Personally, I would say that "thinking is behavior" is a better
description than "thinking is computation." That's part of why I
disagree with the AI view that thinking is done by a neural computer.
It seems to me that thinking is behavior, and learned behavior at that,
so thinking is done by the person. The neural system manages the
behavior, but the thinking itself is properly ascribed, as behavior, to
the person.
Nevertheless, I am not a Skinnerian behaviorist. I have often
disagreed with Glen, and he has often disagreed with me. For example, I
would not say that perception is behavior.
I'm posting this mainly to point out that it can make sense to say that
at least some of the things of mind are behavior.
Regards,
Neil
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