Pluralism And The Mind

Author : Matthew Colborn
Publisher : Andrews UK Limited
Page : 395 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2011-11-03
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781845403294

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Pluralism and the Mind by Matthew Colborn Pdf

Paul Feyerabend noted that ‘… the world which we want to explore is a largely unknown entity. We must, therefore, keep our options open and … not restrict ourselves in advance.' (1975, p. 20). Given that consciousness is poorly understood and vaguely defined, such advice seems sound, but is frequently ignored in favour of an insistence that a scientific theory of consciousness must be reducible to current monist physics and biology. This book argues that such an insistence is historically unsupportable, theoretically incoherent and unnecessary. The author instead makes the case for emergent property pluralism. New concepts of emergent mental properties are needed in part because of the failure of mainstream approaches (like computationalism or dynamical systems) satisfactorily to address issues like subjective volition, autonomy and creativity. The author sees personal consciousness as active and classifiable as a subset of the wider problem of biological causation. (‘Biological causation' is my term for issues like downwards causation, ‘final causes,’ purposive behaviour and autonomy that are poorly handled by conventional evolutionary, computational or dynamical systems models (See Rosen, 1991, Ho, 2008). Rosen’s approach is especially useful from a pluralistic perspective because of his insistence that ‘no one mode of causal entailment suffices to understand anything’ (Rosen, 1991, p. 13.)) The book is split into three sections. Part one builds an historical case for pluralism. Part two deconstructs insistent monism and mainstream models before addressing biological causation. Part three explores the consequences of such an alternative approach by examining specific phenomena like free will, the self and evolutionary emergence.

Author : David Ludwig
Publisher : Springer
Page : 201 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 2015-10-22
Category : Science
ISBN : 9783319227382

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A Pluralist Theory of the Mind by David Ludwig Pdf

This book challenges common debates in philosophy of mind by questioning the framework of placement problems in contemporary metaphysics. The author argues that placement problems arise when exactly one fundamental ontology serves as the base for all entities, and will propose a pluralist alternative that takes the diversity of our conceptual resources and ontologies seriously. This general pluralist account is applied to issues in philosophy of mind to argue that contemporary debates about the mind-body problem are built on this problematic framework of placement problems. The starting point is the plurality of ontologies in scientific practice. Not only can we describe the world in terms of physical, biological, or psychological ontologies, but any serious engagement with scientific ontologies will identify more specific ontologies in each domain. For example, there is not one unified ontology for biology, but rather a diversity of scientific specializations with different ontological needs. Based on this account of scientific practice the author argues that there is no reason to assume that ontological unification must be possible everywhere. Without this ideal, the scope of ontological unification turns out to be an open empirical question and there is no need to present unification failures as philosophically puzzling “placement problems”.

Author : Matthew Colborn
Publisher : Andrews UK Limited
Page : 379 pages
File Size : 47,6 Mb
Release : 2011-11-03
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781845403287

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Pluralism and the Mind by Matthew Colborn Pdf

Paul Feyerabend noted that ‘… the world which we want to explore is a largely unknown entity. We must, therefore, keep our options open and … not restrict ourselves in advance.' (1975, p. 20). Given that consciousness is poorly understood and vaguely defined, such advice seems sound, but is frequently ignored in favour of an insistence that a scientific theory of consciousness must be reducible to current monist physics and biology. This book argues that such an insistence is historically unsupportable, theoretically incoherent and unnecessary. The author instead makes the case for emergent property pluralism. New concepts of emergent mental properties are needed in part because of the failure of mainstream approaches (like computationalism or dynamical systems) satisfactorily to address issues like subjective volition, autonomy and creativity. The author sees personal consciousness as active and classifiable as a subset of the wider problem of biological causation. (‘Biological causation' is my term for issues like downwards causation, ‘final causes,’ purposive behaviour and autonomy that are poorly handled by conventional evolutionary, computational or dynamical systems models (See Rosen, 1991, Ho, 2008). Rosen’s approach is especially useful from a pluralistic perspective because of his insistence that ‘no one mode of causal entailment suffices to understand anything’ (Rosen, 1991, p. 13.)) The book is split into three sections. Part one builds an historical case for pluralism. Part two deconstructs insistent monism and mainstream models before addressing biological causation. Part three explores the consequences of such an alternative approach by examining specific phenomena like free will, the self and evolutionary emergence.

Author : Matthew Colborn
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 41,5 Mb
Release : 2011
Category : Consciousness
ISBN : OCLC:1090051556

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Pluralism and the Mind by Matthew Colborn Pdf

Author : S. Nassir Ghaemi
Publisher : JHU Press
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2004-12-01
Category : Medical
ISBN : 9780801881374

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The Concepts of Psychiatry by S. Nassir Ghaemi Pdf

Because most psychiatric illnesses are complex phenomena, no single method or approach is sufficient to explain them or the experiences of persons who suffer from them. In The Concepts of Psychiatry S. Nassir Ghaemi, M.D. argues that the discipline of psychiatry can therefore be understood best from a pluralistic perspective. Grounding his approach in the works of Paul McHugh, Phillip Slavney, Leston Havens, and others, Ghaemi incorporates a more explicitly philosophical discussion of the strengths of a pluralistic model and the weaknesses of other approaches, such as biological or psychoanalytic theories, the biopsychosocial model, or eclecticism. Ghaemi's methodology is twofold: on the one hand, he applies philosophical ideas, such as utilitarian versus duty-based ethical models, to psychiatric practice. On the other hand, he subjects clinical psychiatric phenomena, such as psychosis or the Kraepelin nosology, to a conceptual analysis that is philosophically informed. This book will be of interest to professionals and students in psychiatry, as well as psychologists, social workers, philosophers, and general readers who are interested in understanding the field of psychiatry and its practices at a conceptual level.

Author : Karlo Basta,John McGarry,Richard Simeon
Publisher : UBC Press
Page : 365 pages
File Size : 48,6 Mb
Release : 2015-01-12
Category : Political Science
ISBN : 9780774828208

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Territorial Pluralism by Karlo Basta,John McGarry,Richard Simeon Pdf

Territorial pluralism is a form of political autonomy designed to accommodate national, ethnic, or linguistic differences within a state. It has the potential to provide for the peaceful, democratic, and just management of difference. But given traditional concerns about state sovereignty, nation-building, and unity, how realistic is it to expect that a state’s authorities will agree to recognize and empower distinct substate communities? Territorial Pluralism answers this question by examining a wide variety of cases, including developing and industrialized states and democratic and authoritarian regimes. Drawing on examples of both success and failure, contributors analyze specific cases to understand the kinds of institutions that emerge in response to demands for territorial pluralism, as well as their political effects. With identity conflicts continuing to have a major impact on politics around the globe, they argue that territorial pluralism remains a legitimate and effective means for managing difference in multinational states.

Author : Steven Horst
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 373 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2024-07-02
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780262552615

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Cognitive Pluralism by Steven Horst Pdf

An argument that we understand the world through many special-purpose mental models of different content domains, and an exploration of the philosophical implications. Philosophers have traditionally assumed that the basic units of knowledge and understanding are concepts, beliefs, and argumentative inferences. In Cognitive Pluralism, Steven Horst proposes that another sort of unit—a mental model of a content domain—is the fundamental unit of understanding. He argues that understanding comes not in word-sized concepts, sentence-sized beliefs, or argument-sized reasoning but in the form of idealized models and in domain-sized chunks. He argues further that this idea of “cognitive pluralism”—the claim that we understand the world through many such models of a variety of content domains—sheds light on a number of problems in philosophy. Horst first presents the “standard view” of cognitive architecture assumed in mainstream epistemology, semantics, truth theory, and theory of reasoning. He then explains the notion of a mental model as an internal surrogate that mirrors features of its target domain, and puts it in the context of ideas in psychology, philosophy of science, artificial intelligence, and theoretical cognitive science. Finally, he argues that the cognitive pluralist view not only helps to explain puzzling disunities of knowledge but also raises doubts about the feasibility of attempts to “unify” the sciences; presents a model-based account of intuitive judgments; and contends that cognitive pluralism favors a reliabilist epistemology and a “molecularist” semantics. Horst suggests that cognitive pluralism allows us to view rival epistemological and semantic theories not as direct competitors but as complementary accounts, each an idealized model of different dimensions of evaluation.

Author : Markus I. Eronen
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 46,7 Mb
Release : 2013-05-02
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783110332131

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Reduction in Philosophy of Mind by Markus I. Eronen Pdf

The notion of reduction continues to play a key role in philosophy of mind and philosophy of cognitive science. Supporters of reductionism claim that psychological properties or explanations reduce to neural properties or explanations, while antireductionists claim that such reductions are not possible. In this book, I apply recent developments in philosophy of science, particularly the mechanistic explanation paradigm and the interventionist theory of causation, to reassess the traditional approaches to reduction in philosophy of mind. I then elaborate and defend a pluralistic framework for philosophy of mind, and show how reductionist ideas can be incorporated into it. This leads to a novel synthesis of pluralism and reductionism that I call pluralistic physicalism.

Author : C. A. Richardson
Publisher : CUP Archive
Page : 366 pages
File Size : 44,5 Mb
Release : 2024-07-02
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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Spiritual Pluralism and Recent Philosophy by C. A. Richardson Pdf

Author : William F. Pinar,William Pinar
Publisher : Psychology Press
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 1998
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0750708786

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The Passionate Mind of Maxine Greene by William F. Pinar,William Pinar Pdf

This collection of work is an analysis and investigation into Maxine Greene, the most important philosopher of education in the United States today. The book opens and concludes with Greene's own autobiographical statements.

Author : Cyril Albert Richardson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 368 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 1919
Category : Mind and body
ISBN : UOM:39015026426653

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Spiritual Pluralism and Recent Philosophy by Cyril Albert Richardson Pdf

Author : Stephen H. Kellert,Helen E. Longino,C. Kenneth Waters
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Page : 288 pages
File Size : 44,6 Mb
Release : 2006
Category : Science
ISBN : 0816647631

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Scientific Pluralism by Stephen H. Kellert,Helen E. Longino,C. Kenneth Waters Pdf

Scientific pluralism is an issue at the forefront of philosophy of science. This landmark work addresses the question, Can pluralism be advanced as a general, philosophical interpretation of science? Scientific Pluralism demonstrates the viability of the view that some phenomena require multiple accounts. Pluralists observe that scientists present various—sometimes even incompatible—models of the world and argue that this is due to the complexity of the world and representational limitations. Including investigations in biology, physics, economics, psychology, and mathematics, this work provides an empirical basis for a consistent stance on pluralism and makes the case that it should change the ways that philosophers, historians, and social scientists analyze scientific knowledge. Contributors: John Bell, U of Western Ontario; Michael Dickson, U of South Carolina; Carla Fehr, Iowa State U; Ronald N. Giere, U of Minnesota; Geoffrey Hellman, U of Minnesota; Alan Richardson, U of British Columbia; C. Wade Savage, U of Minnesota; Esther-Mirjam Sent, U of Nijmegen. Stephen H. Kellert is professor of philosophy at Hamline University and a fellow of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science. Helen E. Longino is professor of philosophy at Stanford University. C. Kenneth Waters is associate professor of philosophy and director of the Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science.

Author : Michael B. Gill
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 257 pages
File Size : 55,6 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780198714033

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Humean Moral Pluralism by Michael B. Gill Pdf

Michael B. Gill offers a new account of Humean moral pluralism: the view that there are different moral reasons for action, which are based on human sentiments. He explores its historical origins, and argues that it offers the most compelling view of our moral experience. Together, pluralism and Humeanism make a philosophically powerful couple.

Author : Michel Bélanger,Patrice Potvin,Steven Horst,Andrew Shtulman,Eduardo F. Mortimer
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
Page : 327 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2022-07-18
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 9781000617917

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Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Representational Pluralism in Human Cognition by Michel Bélanger,Patrice Potvin,Steven Horst,Andrew Shtulman,Eduardo F. Mortimer Pdf

Bringing together diverse theoretical and empirical contributions from the fields of social and cognitive psychology, philosophy and science education, this volume explores representational pluralism as a phenomenon characteristic of human cognition. Building on these disciplines’ shared interest in understanding human thought, perception and conceptual change, the volume illustrates how representational plurality can be conducive to research and practice in varied fields. Particular care is taken to emphasize points of convergence and the value of sharing discourses, models, justifications and theories of pluralism across disciplines. The editors give ample space for philosophers, cognitive scientists and educators to explicate the history and current status of representational pluralism in their own disciplines. Using multiple forms of research from the relational perspective, this volume will be of interest to students, scholars and researchers with an interest in cognitive psychology, as well as educational psychology and philosophy of science.

Author : Peter L. Berger
Publisher : Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Page : 162 pages
File Size : 52,9 Mb
Release : 2014-09-11
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781614516477

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The Many Altars of Modernity by Peter L. Berger Pdf

This book is the summation of many decades of work by Peter L. Berger, an internationally renowned sociologist of religion. Secularization theory—which saw modernity as leading to a decline of religion—has been empirically falsified. It should be replaced by a nuanced theory of pluralism. In this new book, Berger outlines the possible foundations for such a theory, addressing a wide range of issues spanning individual faith, interreligious societies, and the political order. He proposes a conversation around a new paradigm for religion and pluralism in an age of multiple modernities. The book also includes responses from three eminent scholars of religion: Nancy Ammerman, Detlef Pollack, and Fenggang Yang.