This view is known as reductive materialism or materialistic monism. It is based on the belief that the mind can either be identified or reduced to the brain (or body) activity. For a true materialist the ‘mind’ is nothing more than a way of describing certain electrical impulses and chemical processes in the brain and the rest of the body. Thoughts or emotions are mere folk terminology: consequently, the laws of nature govern these processes. — Dr. Nash Popovic
Tribesmen see an LED. They have no clue what transition metals are, what diodes are, what photons are, what a catode is. Yet, when the LED shines red, they say "the liver is red", when it shines blue, "the liver is blue". They think that LED is the thing purifying their bodies of all toxins, so they call it liver. Nonetheless, they are still correctly talking about LED states. — Lionino
is Dr. Popovic himself a reductive materialist, or a materialist at all? — flannel jesus
Are you claiming that exchanging meaningful information about LED lights entails exchanging meaningful information about transition metals and photons and everything else that an LED is? — RogueAI
Suppose two children are talking about how bright the sun is. Is your claim that they are also talking about photons and fusion and just don't know it? — RogueAI
Also, the photons the cavemen are seeing being emitted from the LED's (and causing their erroneous beliefs about the LED's) are not identical to the LED's themselves — RogueAI
Also, in your example, the tribesman have an erroneous belief LED's and livers — RogueAI
Can you give an example where no erroneous beliefs are going on? — RogueAI
Are you claiming that exchanging meaningful information about LED lights entails exchanging meaningful information about transition metals and photons and everything else that an LED is?
— RogueAI
No, I am claiming one is a collection of facts Y about the LED and the other a collection of facts X, you don't need X for Y neither Y for X, even though X would give you a deeper understanding of Y. — Lionino
Why aren't the facts about the mental states collection of facts Y and the facts about the brain states collections of facts X? — RogueAI
1. Mental states are identical to brain states.
2. From (1), talk of mental states is the same as talk of brain states.
3. Ancient peoples coherently talked about their mental states.
4. Ancient peoples did not coherently talk about their brain states.
5. Therefore, mental states are not identical to brain states. — RogueAI
Identical" is a strange wording that's prone to confusion due to different people's understanding of what that exactly entails. That's why most philosophers talk in terms of supervenience instead. — flannel jesus
1. Mental states are identical to brain states. — RogueAI
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