The Causal Exclusion Problem
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The Causal Exclusion Problem
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Author : Dwayne Moore
language : en
Publisher: American University Studies
Release Date : 2014
The Causal Exclusion Problem written by Dwayne Moore and has been published by American University Studies this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2014 with Causation categories.
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.
Mind In A Physical World
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Author : Jaegwon Kim
language : en
Publisher: MIT Press
Release Date : 2000
Mind In A Physical World written by Jaegwon Kim and has been published by MIT Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2000 with Body, Mind & Spirit categories.
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.
Physicalism Or Something Near Enough
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Author : Jaegwon Kim
language : en
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Release Date : 2007-12-03
Physicalism Or Something Near Enough written by Jaegwon Kim and has been published by Princeton University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2007-12-03 with Philosophy categories.
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.
Physical Realization
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Author : Sydney Shoemaker
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Release Date : 2007-07-19
Physical Realization written by Sydney Shoemaker and has been published by Oxford University Press, USA this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2007-07-19 with Philosophy categories.
How can physicalism be true? How can all facts about the world be constituted by facts about the distribution in the world of physical properties? Shoemaker's answer to this question involves showing how the mental properties of a person can be 'realised' in the physical properties of that person.
Metaphysical Grounding
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Author : Fabrice Correia
language : en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date : 2012-10-04
Metaphysical Grounding written by Fabrice Correia and has been published by Cambridge University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-10-04 with Philosophy categories.
This anthology systematically investigates philosophical ideas about priority, and comprises original contributions on particular questions about priority and an introduction which provides a broader survey of the debate, addressing its history as well as its central systematic aspects. Of interest to students and scholars of metaphysics.
Physicalism And Mental Causation
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Author : Sven Walter
language : en
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited
Release Date : 2015-11-04
Physicalism And Mental Causation written by Sven Walter and has been published by Andrews UK Limited this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2015-11-04 with Philosophy categories.
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.
Philosophical And Scientific Perspectives On Downward Causation
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Author : Michele Paolini Paoletti
language : en
Publisher: Routledge
Release Date : 2017-02-17
Philosophical And Scientific Perspectives On Downward Causation written by Michele Paolini Paoletti and has been published by Routledge this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2017-02-17 with Philosophy categories.
Downward causation plays a fundamental role in many theories of metaphysics and philosophy of mind. It is strictly connected with many topics in philosophy, including but not limited to: emergence, mental causation, the nature of causation, the nature of causal powers and dispositions, laws of nature, and the possibility of ontological and epistemic reductions. Philosophical and Scientific Perspectives on Downward Causation brings together experts from different fields—including William Bechtel, Stewart Clark and Tom Lancaster, Carl Gillett, John Heil, Robin F. Hendry, Max Kistler, Stephen Mumford and Rani Lill Anjum —who delve into classic and unexplored lines of philosophical inquiry related to downward causation. It critically assesses the possibility of downward causation given different ontological assumptions and explores the connection between downward causation and the metaphysics of causation and dispositions. Finally, it presents different cases of downward causation in empirical fields such as physics, chemistry, biology and the neurosciences. This volume is both a useful introduction and a collection of original contributions on this fascinating and hotly debated philosophical topic.
The Multiple Realization Book
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Author : Thomas W. Polger
language : en
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date : 2016-09-02
The Multiple Realization Book written by Thomas W. Polger and has been published by Oxford University Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2016-09-02 with Science categories.
Since Hilary Putnam offered multiple realization as an empirical hypothesis in the 1960s, philosophical consensus has turned against the idea that mental processes could be identified with brain processes, and multiple realization has become the keystone of the 'antireductive consensus' across philosophy of science broadly. Thomas W. Polger and Lawrence A. Shapiro offer the first book-length investigation of multiple realization. Their analysis of multiple realization serves as a starting point to a series of philosophically sophisticated and empirically informed arguments that cast doubt on the generality of multiple realization in the cognitive sciences. In the course of making their case, they respond to classic defenses of multiple realization that Jerry Fodor, Ned Block, and other prominent philosophers of psychology have offered. Polger and Shapiro conclude that the identity theory, once left for dead, remains a viable theory of mind—one that, when suitably framed, enjoys the benefits typically thought to accrue only to theories of mind that presuppose the truth of multiple realization. As Polger and Shapiro see matters, mind-brain identities have played an important role in the growth and achievements of the cognitive sciences, and they see little prospect—or need—for multiple realization in an empirically-based theory of mind. This leads Polger and Shapiro to offer an alternative framework for understanding explanations in the cognitive sciences, as well as in chemistry, biology, and other non-basic sciences.
The Oxford Handbook Of Causation
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Author : Helen Beebee
language : en
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Release Date : 2012-01-12
The Oxford Handbook Of Causation written by Helen Beebee and has been published by OUP Oxford this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2012-01-12 with Philosophy categories.
Causation is a central topic in many areas of philosophy. In metaphysics, philosophers want to know what causation is, and how it is related to laws of nature, probability, action, and freedom of the will. In epistemology, philosophers investigate how causal claims can be inferred from statistical data, and how causation is related to perception, knowledge and explanation. In the philosophy of mind, philosophers want to know whether and how the mind can be said to have causal efficacy, and in ethics, whether there is a moral distinction between acts and omissions and whether the moral value of an act can be judged according to its consequences. And causation is a contested concept in other fields of enquiry, such as biology, physics, and the law. This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive overview of these and other topics, as well as the history of the causation debate from the ancient Greeks to the logical empiricists. The chapters provide surveys of contemporary debates, while often also advancing novel and controversial claims; and each includes a comprehensive bibliography and suggestions for further reading. The book is thus the most comprehensive source of information about causation currently available, and will be invaluable for upper-level undergraduates through to professional philosophers.
The Neural Basis Of Free Will
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Author : Peter Tse
language : en
Publisher: MIT Press
Release Date : 2013
The Neural Basis Of Free Will written by Peter Tse and has been published by MIT Press this book supported file pdf, txt, epub, kindle and other format this book has been release on 2013 with Medical categories.
The issues of mental causation, consciousness, and free will have vexed philosophers since Plato. This book examines these unresolved issues from a neuroscientific perspective. In contrast with philosophers who use logic rather than data to argue whether mental causation or consciousness can exist given unproven first assumptions, Tse proposes that we instead listen to what neurons have to say. Because the brain must already embody a solution to the mind--body problem, why not focus on how the brain actually realizes mental causation? Tse draws on exciting recent neuroscientific data concerning how informational causation is realized in physical causation at the level of NMDA receptors, synapses, dendrites, neurons, and neuronal circuits. He argues that a particular kind of strong free will and downward mental causation are realized in rapid synaptic plasticity. Recent neurophysiological breakthroughs reveal that neurons function as criterial assessors of their inputs, which then change the criteria that will make other neurons fire in the future. Such informational causation cannot change the physical basis of information realized in the present, but it can change the physical basis of information that may be realized in the immediate future. This gets around the standard argument against free will centered on the impossibility of self-causation. Tse explores the ways that mental causation and qualia might be realized in this kind of neuronal and associated information-processing architecture, and considers the psychological and philosophical implications of having such an architecture realized in our brains.