BEHAVIOR IS ABSTRACTION, NOT OSTENSION: CONCEPTUAL AND HISTORICAL REMARKS ON THE NATURE OF PSYCHOLOGY

Abstract

In this paper I discuss (1) the nontechnical nature of the term behavior; (2) the need to revisit the Aristotelian concept of soul as the prime naturalistic subject matter of psychology; (3) the incompleteness of meaning when behavior is identified with movements or actions; (4) the implication of behavior in episodic and dispositional words and statements including mental terms; (5) that mental concepts are not learned by inner or outer ostension to physical properties of the speaker or of others; and (6) the concept of behavior involves a two-fold abstraction, involving speaking with terms about doing and saying, on the one hand, and speaking about those terms with which we speak, on the other.