Six Levels of Mentality |
| |
| Authors: | Leslie Stevenson |
| |
| Institution: | 1. University Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy , University of Texas , Austin;2. Member of the Academy of Distinguished Teachers , University of Texas , Austin |
| |
| Abstract: | Abstract Examination of recent debates about belief shows the need to distinguish: -
(a)?non–linguistic informational states in animal perception; -
(b)?the uncritical use of language, e.g. by children; -
(c)?adult humans' reasoned judgments. If we also distinguish between mind-directed and object–directed mental states, we have: 1. Perceptual ‘beliefs’ of animals and infants about their material environment. 2. ‘Beliefs’ of animals and infants about the mental states of others. 3. Linguistically-expressible beliefs about the world, resulting from e.g. the uncritical tendency to believe what we are told. 4. Uncritically-formed beliefs about the mental states. 5. Beliefs about the material world arrived at by the weighing of evidence. 6. Beliefs about mental states formed by critical assessment. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
