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Autonomous Psychology: What it Should and Should Not Entail

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2022

William Bechtel
William Bechtel*
Affiliation:
Georgia State University
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Extract

Cognitivism is now rather clearly the dominant approach in psychology. Philosophers such as Putnam (1975), Dennett (1978), Lycan (1981), and Cummins (1983) have supported the cognitivist strategy by proposing that mental states are to be defined functionally in terms of their interactions with other mental states. One of the most prominent features of the cognitivist-functionalist position is the autonomy it is thought to bestow upon psychology. Psychology, as viewed from this perspective, describes the processing of mental representations within the mind-brain and does not need to concern itself with the neurological activity that underlies its operation.

The arguments that are raised to support the autonomy of psychology from neurophysiology are arguments against a strong reductionist position that makes psychology dispensable (a view held, for example, by P.S. Churchland (1980)). The arguments are designed to show that there are regularities in nature that are not captured in the laws of physics.

Type
Part II. Philosophy of Psychology and Philosophy of Physics
Information
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association , Volume 1984 , Issue 1: Volume One: Contributed Papers 1984 , 1984 , pp. 42 - 55
Copyright
Copyright © Philosophy of Science Association 1984

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Footnotes

1

I thank Adele Abrahamsen and Robert Richardson for their very helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. Work on this paper was supported by a Fellowship for Independent Study and Research from the National Endowment for the Humanities, which is gratefully acknowledged.

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