5. The Modularity Theory

Author: Goldman, Alvin I.

Source: Simulating Minds, August 2006 , pp. 95-113(19)

Publisher: Oxford Scholarship Online Monographs

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Abstract:

Modularists claim that folk psychology is mediated by an innate modularized database, the structures of which support inferences concerning representational relations like belief, desire, and pretense. It is doubtful, however, that mindreading really qualifies as modular, specifically, that it satisfies Fodor’s chief criteria of modularity: domain specificity and informational encapsulation. Alan Leslie postulates a core module called the “theory of mind mechanism”, but most of the work in assigning mental states is done by the “selection processor”, which is a non-modular mechanism. Finally, no real evidence is provided that propositional attitudes are ascribed via theoretical inference rather than simulation.

Keywords: domain specificity; pretense; informational encapsulation; Fodor; theory of mind mechanism; Leslie; selection processor; modularity

Document Type: Research article

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