Philosophers have traditionally held that propositions mark the domain of rational thought and inference. Many philosophers have held that only conceptually sophisticated creatures like us could have propositional attitudes. But in recent decades, philosophers have adopted increasingly liberal views of propositional attitudes that encompass the mental states of various non-human animals. These views now sit alongside more traditional views within the philosophical mainstream. In this paper I argue that liberalized views of propositional attitudes are so liberal that they encompass states of all sorts of apparently mindless systems like circadian clocks in plants. I begin by arguing that on the most well-developed and widely endorsed theories of underived representation in philosophy, circadian clocks qualify as representations. I then argue that standard reasons for thinking that perceptual states and pictures have propositional content carry over to circadian clocks. Finally, I argue that circadian representations in plants play the kind of functional role that is widely taken to be partly constitutive of belief-like attitudes. So according to mainstream theories of representation, propositions, and attitudes, plants have propositional attitudes. Yet on other more traditional views, this conclusion would seem absurd. So, contrary to appearances, there is no shared, stable understanding of what propositional attitudes are in contemporary philosophy.

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图片、植物和命题

哲学家传统上认为，命题标志着理性思考和推理的领域。许多哲学家认为，只有像我们这样概念复杂的生物才能具有命题态度。但近几十年来，哲学家们对命题态度采取了越来越自由的观点，这些态度涵盖了各种非人类动物的心理状态。这些观点现在与哲学主流中更传统的观点并存。在这篇论文中，我认为命题态度的自由化观点是如此自由，以至于它们涵盖了各种明显无意识系统的状态，例如植物中的生物钟。我首先论证，在哲学中最发达和广泛认可的非派生表征理论中，生物钟有资格作为表征。然后我争辩说，认为感知状态和图片具有命题内容的标准理由可以延续到生物钟。最后，我认为植物中的昼夜节律表现发挥着一种功能性作用，人们普遍认为这种作用是部分构成信仰态度的。因此，根据表象、命题和态度的主流理论，植物具有命题态度。然而，从其他更传统的观点来看，这个结论似乎很荒谬。因此，与表面现象相反，对于当代哲学中的命题态度是什么，没有共同的、稳定的理解。我认为，植物中的昼夜节律表征发挥着一种功能性作用，人们普遍认为这种作用是部分构成信念式态度的组成部分。因此，根据表象、命题和态度的主流理论，植物具有命题态度。然而，从其他更传统的观点来看，这个结论似乎很荒谬。因此，与表面现象相反，对于当代哲学中的命题态度是什么，没有共同的、稳定的理解。我认为，植物中的昼夜节律表征发挥着一种功能性作用，人们普遍认为这种作用是部分构成信念式态度的组成部分。因此，根据表象、命题和态度的主流理论，植物具有命题态度。然而，从其他更传统的观点来看，这个结论似乎很荒谬。因此，与表面现象相反，对于当代哲学中的命题态度是什么，没有共同的、稳定的理解。