Moral Psychology Lab Meeting

Title: Against the Common Sense View of Material Objects

Abstact: Research suggests that our ordinary view of material objects is infused with teleological considerations.  Moreover, research suggests that the particular teleological view we operate with is tied into an agentive view on reality as a whole, what I call promiscuous teleomentalism.  My plan will be to trace the source of our tendency toward promiscuous teleomentalist thinking.  I will suggest that our tendency toward promiscuous teleomentalist thinking is rooted in the operation of two psychological systems, a folk psychological system and a folk physical reasoning system.  I will then suggest that neither of these systems provide good evidence about the nature of material objects.  And I will conclude that the common sense view of material objects should not be taken seriously in theorizing about the nature of material objects.