Teleological realism : mind, agency, and explanation
- Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2005.
- xii, 245 p.: 24 cm. .
In Teleological Realism, Scott Sehon argues that common-sense psychology (CSP) explanations are not causal but teleological - that they cite the purpose or goal of the behavior in question rather than an antecedent state that caused the behavior. CSP explanations of behavior, Sehon claims, are answering a question different from that answered by physical science explanations, and accordingly, CSP explanations and physical science explanations are independent of one another. Common-sense facts about mind and agency can thus be independent of the physical facts about human beings, and, contrary to the views of most philosophers of mind in recent decades, common-sense psychology will not be subsumed by physical science.-BOOK JACKET.