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CAN PREDICTIVE PROCESSING EXPLAIN SELF-DECEPTION?

Jurjako, Marko (2022) CAN PREDICTIVE PROCESSING EXPLAIN SELF-DECEPTION? [Preprint]

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Abstract

The prediction error minimization framework (PEM) denotes a family of views that aim at providing a unified theory of perception, cognition, and action. In this paper, I discuss some of the theoretical limitations of PEM. It appears that PEM cannot provide a satisfactory explanation of motivated reasoning, as instantiated in phenomena such as self-deception, because its cognitive ontology does not have a separate category for motivational states such as desires. However, it might be thought that this objection confuses levels of explanation. Self-deception is a personal level phenomenon, while PEM offers subpersonal explanations of psychological abilities. Thus, the paper examines how subpersonal explanations couched in the PEM framework can be thought of as related to personal level explanations underlying self-deception. In this regard, three views on the relation between personal and subpersonal explanations are investigated: the autonomist, the functionalist, and the co-evolutionary perspective. I argue that, depending on which view of the relation between the personal and subpersonal is adopted, the PEM paradigm faces a dilemma: either its explanatory ambitions should be reduced to the subpersonal domain, or it cannot provide a satisfactory account of motivated reasoning as instantiated in self-deception.


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Item Type: Preprint
Creators:
CreatorsEmailORCID
Jurjako, Markomjurjako@ffri.uniri.hr0000-0002-7252-8627
Additional Information: This is preprint of an article which in its final form will be published in Synthese
Keywords: Desires; motivated reasoning; predictive processing; prediction error minimization; personal/subpersonal explanations; self-deception
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Computation
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Judgment and Decision Making
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Learning and Memory
Depositing User: Mr Marko Jurjako
Date Deposited: 30 Jun 2022 02:35
Last Modified: 30 Jun 2022 02:35
Item ID: 20820
Subjects: Specific Sciences > Neuroscience > Cognitive Neuroscience
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Computation
Specific Sciences > Psychology > Judgment and Decision Making
Specific Sciences > Cognitive Science > Learning and Memory
Date: 2022
URI: https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/20820

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