Physicalism And Mental Causation

Author : Sven Walter,Heinz-Dieter Heckmann
Publisher : Andrews UK Limited
Page : 352 pages
File Size : 47,7 Mb
Release : 2015-11-04
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781845405830

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Physicalism and Mental Causation by Sven Walter,Heinz-Dieter Heckmann Pdf

Physicalism—the thesis that everything there is in the world, including our minds, is constituted by basic physical entities—has dominated the philosophy of mind during the last few decades. But although the conceptual foundations of the physicalist agenda—including a proper explication of notions such as ‘causation’, ‘determination’, ‘realization’ or even ‘physicalism’ itself—must be settled before more specific problems (e.g. the problems of mental causation and human agency) can be satisfactorily addressed, a comprehensive philosophical reflection on the relationships between the various key concepts of the debate on physicalism is yet missing. This book presents a range of essays on the conceptual foundations of physicalism, mental causation and human agency, written by established and leading authors in the field.

Author : Thomas Kroedel
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 235 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2019-12-19
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781108487146

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Mental Causation by Thomas Kroedel Pdf

Presents a comprehensive account of how the mind causes things to happen in the physical world. This book is also available as Open Access.

Author : Jaegwon Kim
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 166 pages
File Size : 49,7 Mb
Release : 2000
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 0262611538

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Mind in a Physical World by Jaegwon Kim Pdf

This book, based on Jaegwon Kim's 1996 Townsend Lectures, presents the philosopher's current views on a variety of issues in the metaphysics of the mind--in particular, the mind-body problem, mental causation, and reductionism. This book, based on Jaegwon Kim's 1996 Townsend Lectures, presents the philosopher's current views on a variety of issues in the metaphysics of the mind--in particular, the mind-body problem, mental causation, and reductionism. Kim construes the mind-body problem as that of finding a place for the mind in a world that is fundamentally physical. Among other points, he redefines the roles of supervenience and emergence in the discussion of the mind-body problem. Arguing that various contemporary accounts of mental causation are inadequate, he offers his own partially reductionist solution on the basis of a novel model of reduction. Retaining the informal tone of the lecture format, the book is clear yet sophisticated.

Author : S. C. Gibb,Sophie C. Gibb,E. J. Lowe,R. D. Ingthorsson
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 281 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2013-03-21
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199603770

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Mental Causation and Ontology by S. C. Gibb,Sophie C. Gibb,E. J. Lowe,R. D. Ingthorsson Pdf

This book demonstrates the importance of ontology for a central debate in philosophy of mind. Mental causation seems an obvious aspect of the world. But it is hard to understand how it can happen unless we get clear about what the entities involved in the process are. An international team of contributors presents new work on this problem.

Author : Brian P. McLaughlin,Jonathan Cohen
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
Page : 408 pages
File Size : 44,7 Mb
Release : 2009-02-09
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780470766323

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Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Mind by Brian P. McLaughlin,Jonathan Cohen Pdf

Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Mind showcases the leading contributors to the field, debating the major questions in philosophy of mind today. Comprises 20 newly commissioned essays on hotly debated issues in the philosophy of mind Written by a cast of leading experts in their fields, essays take opposing views on 10 central contemporary debates A thorough introduction provides a comprehensive background to the issues explored Organized into three sections which explore the ontology of the mental, nature of the mental content, and the nature of consciousness

Author : Jaegwon Kim
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 201 pages
File Size : 50,5 Mb
Release : 2007-12-03
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781400840847

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Physicalism, or Something Near Enough by Jaegwon Kim Pdf

Contemporary discussions in philosophy of mind have largely been shaped by physicalism, the doctrine that all phenomena are ultimately physical. Here, Jaegwon Kim presents the most comprehensive and systematic presentation yet of his influential ideas on the mind-body problem. He seeks to determine, after half a century of debate: What kind of (or "how much") physicalism can we lay claim to? He begins by laying out mental causation and consciousness as the two principal challenges to contemporary physicalism. How can minds exercise their causal powers in a physical world? Is a physicalist account of consciousness possible? The book's starting point is the "supervenience" argument (sometimes called the "exclusion" argument), which Kim reformulates in an extended defense. This argument shows that the contemporary physicalist faces a stark choice between reductionism (the idea that mental phenomena are physically reducible) and epiphenomenalism (the view that mental phenomena are causally impotent). Along the way, Kim presents a novel argument showing that Cartesian substance dualism offers no help with mental causation. Mind-body reduction, therefore, is required to save mental causation. But are minds physically reducible? Kim argues that all but one type of mental phenomena are reducible, including intentional mental phenomena, such as beliefs and desires. The apparent exceptions are the intrinsic, felt qualities of conscious experiences ("qualia"). Kim argues, however, that certain relational properties of qualia, in particular their similarities and differences, are behaviorally manifest and hence in principle reducible, and that it is these relational properties of qualia that are central to their cognitive roles. The causal efficacy of qualia, therefore, is not entirely lost. According to Kim, then, while physicalism is not the whole truth, it is the truth near enough.

Author : Dwayne Moore
Publisher : American University Studies
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 50,9 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Causation
ISBN : 1433122677

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The Causal Exclusion Problem by Dwayne Moore Pdf

In The Causal Exclusion Problem, the popular strategy of abandoning any one of the principles constituting the causal exclusion problem is considered, but ultimately rejected. The metaphysical foundations undergirding the causal exclusion problem are then explored, revealing that the causal exclusion problem cannot be dislodged by undermining its metaphysical foundations - as some are in the habit of doing. Finally, the significant difficulties associated with the bevy of contemporary nonreductive solutions, from supervenience to emergentism, are expanded upon. While conducting this survey of contemporary options, however, two novel approaches are introduced, both of which may resolve the causal exclusion problem from within a nonreductive physicalist paradigm. The Causal Exclusion Problem, which relentlessly motivates the vexing causal exclusion problem and exhaustively surveys its metaphysical assumptions and contemporary responses, is ideal for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course in the philosophy of mind.

Author : Josep E. Corbí,Josep L. Prades
Publisher : Wiley-Blackwell
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2000-02-21
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0631218025

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Minds, Causes and Mechanisms by Josep E. Corbí,Josep L. Prades Pdf

Minds, Causes, and Mechanisms questions the internal consistency of causal physicalism, and vindicates a novel approach to mental causation.

Author : Terence Horgan,Terry Horgan,Marcelo Sabates,David Sosa
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 283 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2015-03-05
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781107077836

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Qualia and Mental Causation in a Physical World by Terence Horgan,Terry Horgan,Marcelo Sabates,David Sosa Pdf

A collection of new essays that develop themes from the work of the philosopher Jaegwon Kim.

Author : Carl Gillett,Barry Loewer
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 396 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2001-11-26
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 0521801753

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Physicalism and Its Discontents by Carl Gillett,Barry Loewer Pdf

A collection of essays by physicalists and their critics on the important doctrine of physicalism, first published in 2001.

Author : Robert J. Howell
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 208 pages
File Size : 44,9 Mb
Release : 2013-06-14
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191662652

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Consciousness and the Limits of Objectivity by Robert J. Howell Pdf

In Consciousness and the Limits of Objectivity Robert J. Howell argues that the options in the debates about consciousness and the mind-body problem are more limited than many philosophers have appreciated. Unless one takes a hard-line stance, which either denies the data provided by consciousness or makes a leap of faith about future discoveries, one must admit that no objective picture of our world can be complete. Howell argues, however, that this is consistent with physicalism, contrary to received wisdom. After developing a novel, neo-Cartesian notion of the physical, followed by a careful consideration of the three major anti-materialist arguments—Black's 'Presentation Problem', Jackson's Knowledge Argument, and Chalmers' Conceivability Argument—Howell proposes a 'subjective physicalism' which gives the data of consciousness their due, while retaining the advantages of a monistic, physical ontology.

Author : Neil Campbell
Publisher : Peter Lang
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN : 1433103745

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Mental Causation by Neil Campbell Pdf

How do mental events such as choices and decisions lead to physical action? The problem of mental causation is one of the most important and intriguing philosophical issues of our time and has been at the centre of debates in the philosophy of mind for the past fifty years. In opposition to the recent wave of reductionist theories, this book argues that it is possible to account for mental causation within a nonreductive framework as it adopts a broadly Davidsonian approach to mental causation: reasons cause actions because they are identical to physical events. This work then defends this approach from the frequently raised criticism that it entails epiphenomenalism - the inefficacy of the mental. Moreover, Mental Causation moves beyond Davidson's views by reconsidering the question of whether reasons causally explain actions, arguing in opposition to Davidson, that explanations appealing to reasons represent a distinct category of explanation from causal explanation. Essential reading for anyone interested in debates about mental causation, this is an excellent text for senior undergraduates, graduate students, and professional philosophers.

Author : Anthony Dardis
Publisher : Columbia University Press
Page : 213 pages
File Size : 46,5 Mb
Release : 2008-09-10
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780231513517

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Mental Causation by Anthony Dardis Pdf

Two thousand years ago, Lucretius said that everything is atoms in the void; it's physics all the way down. Contemporary physicalism agrees. But if that's so how can we—how can our thoughts, emotions, our values—make anything happen in the physical world? This conceptual knot, the mental causation problem, is the core of the mind-body problem, closely connected to the problems of free will, consciousness, and intentionality. Anthony Dardis shows how to unravel the knot. He traces its early appearance in the history of philosophical inquiry, specifically in the work of Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, and T. H. Huxley. He then develops a metaphysical framework for a theory of causation, laws of nature, and the causal relevance of properties. Using this framework, Dardis explains how macro, or higher level, properties can be causally relevant in the same way that microphysical properties are causally relevant: by their relationship with the laws of nature. Smelling an orange, choosing the orange rather than the cheesecake, reaching for the one on the left instead of the one on the right-mental properties such as these take their place alongside the physical "motor of the world" in making things happen.

Author : Raffaella Campaner,Carlo Gabbani
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 259 pages
File Size : 41,7 Mb
Release : 2016
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 8846744292

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Causation and Mental Causation by Raffaella Campaner,Carlo Gabbani Pdf

Author : Anonim
Publisher : BRILL
Page : 191 pages
File Size : 54,7 Mb
Release : 2019-10-21
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789004409965

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Free Will, Causality, and Neuroscience by Anonim Pdf

Neuroscientists often consider free will to be an illusion. Contrary to this hypothesis, the contributions to this volume show that recent developments in neuroscience can also support the existence of free will. Firstly, the possibility of intentional consciousness is studied. Secondly, Libet’s experiments are discussed from this new perspective. Thirdly, the relationship between free will, causality and language is analyzed. This approach suggests that language grants the human brain a possibility to articulate a meaningful personal life. Therefore, human beings can escape strict biological determinism. Contributing author Sofia Bonicalzi has received funding from the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (2014-2020) under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No. 754388 (LMUResearchFellows) and from LMUexcellent, funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Free State of Bavaria under the Excellence Strategy of the German Federal Government and the Länder.