--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: If there is a case for mental events and…" description: "\"If there is a case for mental events and mental states, it must be that the positing of them, like the positing of molecules, hassome indirect systemat..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/819/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_cases_if-there-is-a-case-for-mental-events-and_1291485.jpg" --- # If there is a case for mental events and mental states, it… ![“If there is a case for mental events and mental states, it must be that the positing of them, like the positing of molecules, hassome indirect systematic efficacy in the development of theory.” quote by Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/819/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_cases_if-there-is-a-case-for-mental-events-and_1291485.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/819/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_cases_if-there-is-a-case-for-mental-events-and_1291485.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/819/willard-van-orman-quine-10137_cases_if-there-is-a-case-for-mental-events-and_1291485.jpg) > “If there is a case for mental events and mental states, it must be that the positing of them, like the positing of molecules, hassome indirect systematic efficacy in the development of theory.” [Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Mental entities are useful theoretical constructs, akin to molecules, because they help shape scientific theories despite being indirectly observable. **In simple terms:** Mental concepts help build theories even if unseen. Key Takeaway Use mental models to guide theory building. Themes philosophy science theory epistemology Mood analytical thoughtful Type theoretical philosophical When to use this quote - scientific research - philosophical analysis - educational curriculum - model building Key Concepts constructivism indirect efficacy theoretical utility Questions to Reflect On - How do we validate mental constructs? - When do mental models become hindrances? A Different Perspective Reliance on unobservable constructs can lead to speculative theories. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Efficacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/efficacy/) [Events](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/events/) [Mental state](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mental-state/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) ## Related quotes > [Mental events such as perceivings, rememberings, decisions, and actions resist capture in the net of physical theory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-davidson/mental-events-such-as-perceivings-rememberings-decisions-and-actions/) [Donald Davidson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-davidson/) > [In the theory of psycho-analysis we have no hesitation in assuming that the course taken by mental events is automatically regulated by the pleasure…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sigmund-freud/in-the-theory-of-psycho-analysis-we-have-no-hesitation-in-assuming/) [Sigmund Freud](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sigmund-freud/) > [“Every form of human conflict may be reduced to precisely the same pattern of mental events. We are all totalitarian despots over our own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/b-jinn/every-form-of-human-conflict-may-be-reduced-to-precisely-the-same/) [Bō Jinn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/b-jinn/) > [The constant flux and caprice of mental events do not admit of the establishment of stable experimental conditions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-ebbinghaus/the-constant-flux-and-caprice-of-mental-events-do-not-admit-of-the/) [Hermann Ebbinghaus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-ebbinghaus/) > [Mental events, it is said, are not passive happenings but the acts of a subject.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-ebbinghaus/mental-events-it-is-said-are-not-passive-happenings-but-the-acts-of-a/) [Hermann Ebbinghaus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-ebbinghaus/) > ['The Night Following' is very interior; the events are, to a large degree, mental events.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/morag-joss/the-night-following-is-very-interior-the-events-are-to-a-large-degree/) [Morag Joss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/morag-joss/) > [An indirect quotation we can usually expect to rate only as better or worse, more or less faithful, and we cannot even hope for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-van-orman-quine/an-indirect-quotation-we-can-usually-expect-to-rate-only-as-better-or/) [Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/) > [Often, even after years, mental states once present in consciousness return to it with apparent spontaneity and without any act of the will; that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hermann-ebbinghaus/often-even-after-years-mental-states-once-present-in-consciousness/) [Hermann Ebbinghaus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hermann-ebbinghaus/) > [An increasing number of people who lead mental lives of great intensity, people who are sensitive by nature, notice the steadily more frequent appearance…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/knut-hamsun/an-increasing-number-of-people-who-lead-mental-lives-of-great/) [Knut Hamsun](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/knut-hamsun/) > [We will move from looking at correlations between brain activity and behaviour to studying how the brain causes mental states and behaviour.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-o-keefe/we-will-move-from-looking-at-correlations-between-brain-activity-and/) [John O'Keefe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-o-keefe/) > [Freedom and slavery are mental states.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mahatma-gandhi/freedom-and-slavery-are-mental-states/) [Mahatma Gandhi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mahatma-gandhi/) > [Any attempt to capture the direct experience of the nature of mind in words is impossible. 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We are the happiness, we are the anger, we are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vicki-mackenzie/normally-we-are-so-identified-with-our-thoughts-and-emotions-that-we/) Vicki Mackenzie > [Theories that diseases are caused by mental states and can be cured by will power, are always an index of how much is not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susan-sontag/theories-that-diseases-are-caused-by-mental-states-and-can-be-cured/) [Susan Sontag](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susan-sontag/) ## More by Willard Van Orman Quine > [It is one of the consolations of philosophy that the benefit of showing how to dispense with a concept does not hinge on dispensing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-van-orman-quine/it-is-one-of-the-consolations-of-philosophy-that-the-benefit-of/) [Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/) > [Theory may be deliberate, as in a chapter on chemistry, or it may be second nature, as in the immemorial doctrine of ordinary enduring…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-van-orman-quine/theory-may-be-deliberate-as-in-a-chapter-on-chemistry-or-it-may-be/) [Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/) > [The line that I am urging as today's conventional wisdom is not a denial of consciousness. 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Some have said that it is a reductio ad absurdum… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-van-orman-quine/some-have-said-that-the-thesis-of-indeterminacy-is-a-consequence-of/) [Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/) > [Some may find comfort in reflecting that the distinction between an eliminative and an explicative physicalism is unreal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willard-van-orman-quine/some-may-find-comfort-in-reflecting-that-the-distinction-between-an/) [Willard Van Orman Quine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willard-van-orman-quine/) > [We must not leap to the fatalistic conclusion that we are stuck with the conceptual scheme that we grew up in. 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