Posted: Apr 08, 2022 7:45 pm
zoon wrote:scott1328 wrote:I think the discussion of "Theory of Mind" should be put into its own thread. I see a lot of misunderstandings happening. And a few of those misunderstandings seem to be willful.
I’ve been wondering about following this suggestion and starting a new thread on Theory of Mind, but I think that our use of Theory of Mind is central to our attribution of free will to ourselves and others, so it’s not off-topic.
Quoting again from the abstract of the Nature article “Foundations of theory of mind and its development in early childhood” here):Theory of mind is the human conceptual capacity to understand other people as agents who have subjective mental states such as beliefs, desires, and intentions. It is the basis of distinctively human forms of social understanding and interaction that are essential for communication, cooperation, and culture.
Theory of Mind is the basis of our attributing mental states such as beliefs, desires and intentions; I don’t think we are likely to attribute free will to anything that doesn’t have desires or intentions.
I think Theory of Mind is a fine topic and worthy of discussion.
But I would not attribute "Free Will" to anything because it is a label much like the "God" label; without referent, without a coherent definition, and having no utility.