Tuesday, January 18, 2022

A physicalist argument for proper functions in biology

  1. We have beliefs.

  2. A belief is a mental state with the proper function of reflecting reality.

  3. Our mental states are biological states. (Follows from standard physicalism)

  4. So, some biological states have a proper function.

2 comments:

Nagy Zsolt said...

Given those premises it's not necessarily only the case, that "some biological states have a proper function", but also it is the case, that "our beliefs with the proper function of reflecting reality are biological states".
Just sayin.

William said...

The seriously reductive physicalist would have no problem with this, because to them, ultimately, life does not exist :).