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Empirical Evidence and the Multiple Realization of Mental Kinds

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Empirical Evidence and the Multiple Realization of Mental Kinds Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 6-20-2018 1:30 PM Empirical Evidence and the Multiple Realization of Mental Kinds Danny Booth The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Viger, Christopher David The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in Philosophy A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Danny Booth 2018 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Philosophy of Mind Commons Recommended Citation Booth, Danny, "Empirical Evidence and the Multiple Realization of Mental Kinds" (2018). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 5428. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/5428 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract This thesis explores the use of the concept 'realization' in the philosophy of mind. The primary focus is on the role realization plays in assessing or opposing identity theory. The history of the use of the concept of realization in the philosophy of mind is reviewed, and from that a set of desiderata to be used for assessing accounts of realization is extracted. The desiderata are applied to a sample account of realization proposed by Sydney Shoemaker (2007). Next the application of 'realization' in contemporary contexts is considered, focusing on the idea that mental kinds are, potentially, multiply realized. Based on interpretations of results from research in the relevant sciences this thesis considers two kinds of strategies used to object to multiple realization, (1) arguments against the concept of multiple realization: the Grain Argument (Bechtel and Mundale 1999), and Shapiro's Dilemma (Shapiro 2000), and (2) defeaters for alleged cases/examples of multiple realization proposed by Lawrence Shapiro and Thomas Polger: unification, individual differences, kind splitting, and abstraction and idealization (Polger and Shapiro 2016). The thesis argues that, ultimately, these arguments hinge on the claim that there is no empirical evidence of multiply realized mental kinds. In response to this claim, the fourth chapter presents novel examples of multiple realization drawn from research in the cognitive neuroscience of language. There are three aspects from the study of language that are presented as examples of multiple realization: (1) language lateralization, (2) reading acquisition, and (3) second/multi- language learning. The analysis of these case studies applies Shoemaker's account of realization as a framework for describing the empirical data as cases of multiple realization. Objections to, and defeaters for, these cases are considered and rejected. The thesis concludes by raising the possibility that mental kinds are realized by mechanisms. This proposal involves drawing connections between traditional questions/views from the philosophy of mind with a current research program from the philosophy of science; the view is particularly important in the philosophy of neuroscience and the philosophy of biology, known as 'new mechanism'. ii Keywords Philosophy of mind, philosophy of neuroscience, philosophy of psychology, realization, multiple realization, identity theory, functionalism, mechanisms, new mechanism, natural kinds. iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Christopher Viger, for his support, patience, and guidance as we worked though the research and writing of my dissertation. I would particularly like to thank him for his guidance and careful thought as we worked through the complex metaphysical account of realization upon which much of project draws. I would like to thank Jacqueline Sullivan for her work in setting up and leading the BMI lab associates training program, and for being a reader and examiner for my prospectus. I would also like to thank her for her work organizing the 'Rethinking the Taxonomy of Psychology' conference in 2016 and giving me the chance to help organize a small part of the conference; it was a great opportunity and experience. I would like to thank Tim Bayne for his feedback on various chapters and for being a reader and examiner for my prospectus. I would also like to thank the many members of the BMI reading group for letting me voice versions of my view on realization. The feedback from Robert Foley, Jessey Wright, Fred Banville, and John Jenkinson as I developed these ideas was a great help, and the friendly conversations about the myriad related issues from the philosophy of neuroscience that the reading group discussed were often in the back of my mind as I wrote. I would like to thank my office mates, Sarah Hogarth Rossiter, Cameron Fenton, Trevor Bieber, and Matt Small for reminding me of the breadth of topics and ideas that philosophy encompasses. I would like to thank the many other graduate students at Western who helped organize and run PhilMiLCog each year. I would especially like to thank Matt Ivanovich and Guillaume Beaulac for their work teaching me how to organize and run a conference. I would like to thank the Rotman Institute of Philosophy for their support; the support for the BMI lab associates program and the visiting speakers that the Rotman Institute of Philosophy brought in enabled my research. I would like to thank the members of the LRCN lab for inviting me into their lab. I am especially grateful to Mark Joanisse and Ken McRae for making space for a philosopher and his question in their lab. I want to thank Jeff Malins and Emily Nichols for sharing their expertise and for making me feel comfortable enough with their research to use examples from the cognitive neuroscience of language in my dissertation. iv On a more personal note, I would like to thank my family: my mother, Shelagh, for proof-reading many very dry and technical papers, research proposals, and grant applications; my father Curtis, for instilling in me a love for both creative and critical thinking; my sister Colleen, for boldly living her life on her terms; my brother Sean, for talking through examples of multiple realization from cellular-molecular biology with me; and my brother Riley, for demonstrating how with the right skills ideas can be made into tools. Most importantly, I want to thank my partner, Shari, for being understanding of me while I worked through my ideas and for giving me the space and time to write my dissertation. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the memory of my grandparents, Clayton and Nessie Morrison. The memory of my grandfather's stoic work ethic heartened me while I slogged through the writing of my dissertation. And I never suspected how important my grandmother's sayings, 'It's the same difference', and 'You'll never learn younger' would be to the path I've taken. v Table of Contents Abstract................................................................................................................................ii Acknowledgments...............................................................................................................iv Table of Contents................................................................................................................vi List of Figures...................................................................................................................viii Chapter One: Desiderata for an account of realization........................................................1 1. Introduction.................................................................................................................1 1. 1. Historical background..............................................................................................1 1. 2. Desiderata for an account of realization..................................................................4 1. 2. 1. Identity theory............................................................................................6 1. 2. 1. 1. Realization and physicalism...................................................................8 1. 2. 2. The argument from multiple realization...................................................10 1. 2. 2. 1. Identity or realization, and identity theory or functionalism; the role of empirical evidence in those debates....................................................12 1. 2. 3. The Causal Exclusion Problem................................................................18 1. 3. Objections to the proposed desiderata...................................................................21 1. 3. 1. Morris's objection.....................................................................................21 1. 3. 1. 1. Reply to Morris's objection..................................................................23 1. 3. 2. Pernu's objection......................................................................................26 1. 4. Dissertation outline................................................................................................32 1. 4. 1. Chapter Two: A sample assessment of an account of realization: Shoemaker's account of realization and the three desiderata...............................33 1. 4. 2. Chapter Three: Empirically motivated arguments against multiple realization.............................................................................................................34 1. 4. 3. Chapter Four: Examples
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