Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T19:06:33.208Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

How to Test for Multiple Realization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Lawrence A. Shapiro
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When conceived as an empirical claim, it is natural to wonder how one might test the hypothesis of multiple realization. I consider general issues of testability, show how they apply specifically to the hypothesis of multiple realization, and propose an auxiliary assumption that, I argue, must be conjoined to the hypothesis of multiple realization to ensure its testability. I argue further that Bechtel and Mundale (1999) go astray because they fail to appreciate the need for this auxiliary assumption.

Type
Multiple Realizability, Explanation, and Special Sciences
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 75 , Issue 5: Proceedings of the 2006 Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association. Part II: Symposia Papers. Edited by Cristina Bicchieri and Jason Alexander , December 2008 , pp. 514 - 525
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bechtel, William, Mandik, Pete, Mundale, Jennifer, and Stufflebeam, Robert, eds. (2001), Philosophy and the Neurosciences: A Reader. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bechtel, William, and Mundale, Jennifer (1999), “Multiple Realizability Revisited”, Multiple Realizability Revisited 66:175–207.Google Scholar
Block, Ned, and Fodor, Jerry (1972), “What Psychological States Are Not”, What Psychological States Are Not 81:159–181.Google Scholar
Heil, John (2003), “Multiply Realized Properties”, in Walker, Sven and Heckmann, Heinz-Dieter (eds.), Physicalism and Mental Causation. Charlottesville, VA: Imprint Academic.Google Scholar
Kim, Sungu (2002), “Testing Multiple Realizability: A Discussion of Bechtel and Mundale”, Testing Multiple Realizability: A Discussion of Bechtel and Mundale 69:606–610.Google Scholar
Polger, Thomas (2002), “Putnam's Intuition”, Putnam's Intuition 109:143–170.Google Scholar
Putnam, Hilary (1967), “Psychological Predicates”, in Capitan, William and Merrill, David (eds.), Art, Mind, and Religion. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 37–48.Google Scholar
Quine, Willard (1951), “Two Dogmas of Empiricism”, Two Dogmas of Empiricism 60:20–43.Google Scholar
Shapiro, Lawrence (2004), The Mind Incarnate. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Sharma, Jitendra, Angelucci, Alessandra, and Sur, Mriganka (2000), “Induction of Visual Orientation Modules in Auditory Cortex”, Induction of Visual Orientation Modules in Auditory Cortex 404:841–847.Google ScholarPubMed
Sober, Elliott (1999), “Testability”, Testability 73:47–76.Google Scholar
von Melchner, Laurie, Pallas, Sarah, and Sur, Mriganka (2000), “Visual Behaviour Mediated by Retinal Projections Directed to the Auditory Pathway”, Visual Behaviour Mediated by Retinal Projections Directed to the Auditory Pathway 404:871–876.Google ScholarPubMed