Mental Simulation

Many philosophers and psychologists argue that out everyday ability to predict and explain the actions and mental states of others is grounded in out possession of a primitive 'folk' psychological theory. Recently however, this theory has come under challenge from the simulation alternative. This alternative view says that human beings are able to predict and explain each other's actions by using the resources of their own minds to simulate the psychological aetiology of the actions of the others.

This book and the companion volume Folk Psychology: The Theory of Mind Debate together offer a richly woven fabric of philosophical and psychological theory, which promises to yield real insights into the nature of our mental lives.

List of contributors vii

Acknowledgements ix

Introduction 1
Tony Stone and Martin Davies

1. Simulation and Psychological Concepts 19
Gary Fuller

2. How to Think about Thinking 33
Jane Heal

3. Simulation Without Introspection of Interference from Me to You 53
Robert M. Gordon 53

4. Theories of the Mind in Collision: Plausibility and Authority 68
Norman H. Freeman

5. Second Thoughts on Simulation 87
Stephen Stich and Shaun Nichols

6. A Theory of the Child's Theory of Mind 109
Jerry A. Foder

7. Knowledge and Ability in"Theory of Mind": One-eyed Overview of a Debate 123
Alan M. Leslie and Tim P. German

8. Imagination and Simulation: Aesthetics Meets Cognitive Science 151
Gregory Currie

9. Imagining and Pretending 170
Paul L. Harris

10. Empathy, Mind, and Morals 185
Alvin I. Goldman

11. Self-knowledge, Error and Disorder 209
Derek Bolton

12. Game Theory and Knowledge by Simulation 235
Adam Morton

13. Simulative Reasoning, Common-sense Psychology, and Artificial Intelligence 247
John A. Barnden

Author Index 273

Subject Index 279

Martin Davies is Wilde Reader in Mental Philosophy in the University of Oxford and a Fellow od Chorpus Christi College. He was formerly a Lecturer and then Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck College, London. He has published widely in the areas of philosophy of language, mind and psychology, and from 1989 to 1995 was the Executive Editor of the journal Mind and Language (Blackwell Publishers).

Tony Stone is Head of the Psychology Group and Director of the Modular Programme at King Alfred's College of Higher Education, Winchester. He has published papers on the philosophy of psychology, and is currently working on a book on the philosophical issues raised by cognitive neuropsychology.

Many philosophers and psychologists argue that out everyday ability to predict and explain the actions and mental states of others is grounded in out possession of a primitive 'folk' psychological theory. Recently however, this theory has come under challenge from the simulation alternative. This alternative view says that human beings are able to predict and explain each other's actions by using the resources of their own minds to simulate the psychological aetiology of the actions of the others.

This book and the companion volume Folk Psychology: The Theory of Mind Debate together offer a richly woven fabric of philosophical and psychological theory, which promises to yield real insights into the nature of our mental lives.