The adaptive importance of cognitive efficiency: an alternative theory of why we have beliefs and desires |
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Authors: | Armin W Schulz |
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Institution: | (1) London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK |
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Abstract: | Finding out why we have beliefs and desires is important for a thorough understanding of the nature of our minds (and those
of other animals). It is therefore unsurprising that several accounts have been presented that are meant to answer this question.
At least in the philosophical literature, the most widely accepted of these are due to Kim Sterelny and Peter Godfrey-Smith,
who argue that beliefs and desires evolved due to their enabling us to be behaviourally flexible in a way that reflexes do
not—which, they claim, is beneficial in epistemically complex environments. However, as I try to make clear in this paper,
upon closer consideration, this kind of account turns out to be theoretically implausible. In the main, this is because it
fails to give due credit to the powers of reflex-driven organisms, which can in fact be just as flexible in their behaviour
as ones that are belief/desire-driven. In order to improve on this account, I therefore propose that beliefs and desires evolved,
not due to their enabling us to do something completely different from what reflexive organisms can do, but rather due to
their enabling us to do the same things better. Specifically, I argue that beliefs and desires evolved for making the generation
of behaviour more efficient, since they can simplify the necessary cognitive labour considerably. I end by considering various
implications of this account. |
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