ABSTRACT

Dennett [1991] proposes a novel ontological account of the propositional attitudes—real patterns. Despite its name, the degree to which this account is committed to realism remains unclear. In this paper, I propose an alternative criterion of pattern instantiation, one that assesses the difficultly of faithfully interpreting a physical system as instantiating a particular pattern. Drawing on formal measures of simplicity and similarity, I argue that, for well-instantiated patterns, our interpretation will be computable by using a short program. This approach preserves the flexibility of Dennett’s original, while offering substantially stronger realist commitments.

摘要

Dennett [1991] 提出了一种新颖的命题态度本体论解释——真实模式。尽管它的名字如此，但该帐户在多大程度上致力于现实主义仍不清楚。在本文中，我提出了一种模式实例化的替代标准，该标准评估了将物理系统忠实地解释为实例化特定模式的难度。利用简单性和相似性的正式度量，我认为，对于实例化良好的模式，我们的解释将可以通过使用一个短程序来计算。这种方法保留了丹尼特原著的灵活性，同时提供了更强大的现实主义承诺。