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SUMMARY:How Do Mindreaders Model Minds? - Dr. Stephen Butterfill\, Univers
 ity of Warwick
DTSTART:20130430T120000Z
DTEND:20130430T130000Z
UID:TALK44422@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Nik Darshane
DESCRIPTION:Is belief ascription automatic?  Some findings suggest that it
  is\, others that it is not.  Can infants ascribe false beliefs?  Some mea
 sures indicate that they can\, others that they cannot.  Reflection on the
 se and other puzzling patterns of findings suggests that we might usefully
  ask\, What it is to ascribe beliefs?  More generally\, What it is to be a
  mindreader?  Mindreading involves representing mental states.  And just a
 s representing physical states requires having some model of the physical\
 , so equally representing mental states requires having some model of the 
 mental.  Now the history of science makes it plain that there are multiple
  models of the physical\; some models are relatively easy to apply but are
  limited in accuracy or scope\, others are more accurate but also harder t
 o use.  My talk starts from the observation that there are also multiple m
 odels of the mental.  To say that someone represents beliefs or other ment
 al states leaves open the question of which model of the mental she is usi
 ng.  By outlining how to construct a minimal theory of mind\, I shall show
  that there are simple but limited models of the mental.  Perhaps\, then\,
  mindreading  sometimes involves simple but limited models of the mind.  T
 his might contribute to resolving puzzles about automaticity and developme
 nt.  But how could hypotheses about which model a mindreader is using be t
 ested?   Different models have different signature limits\, and these limi
 ts may make it possible to identify the operation of a given model across 
 contexts and across types of subject.  These limits generate predictions\,
  making it possible to test the conjecture that mindreading involves not o
 nly multiple systems but also multiple models of the mind.
LOCATION:PPSIS Seminar Room (Free School Lane)
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