1. Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Mentalizing

Author: Goldman, Alvin I.

Source: Simulating Minds, August 2006 , pp. 3-23(21)

Publisher: Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs

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Abstract:

A brief overview and mini-history of the subject of mindreading are presented. Philosophers were the first to worry about the folk understanding of other minds and the distinctive nature of self-knowledge. They advanced the view that “folk psychology” presupposes a naive theory of mind. Empirical evidence about young children’s poor performance on false-belief tasks and about the link between autism and “mindblindness” spurred interest among developmental psychologists and psychopathologists. The central questions for a comprehensive theory of mindreading are (1) how people mindread others, (2) how they mindread themselves, (3) how they acquire their mindreading abilities, and (4) what is the content of mental-state concepts.

Keywords: autism; mindblindness; folk psychology; theory of mind; false-belief tasks; mental concepts; other minds

Document Type: Research article

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