- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: MIT Press; illustrated edition edition (6 Feb 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0262162210
- ISBN-13: 978-0262162210
- Product Dimensions: 15.2 x 2 x 22.9 cm
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 5,070,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Natural Minds (Bradford Books)
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Review
"The book samples extensively the current gamut of views on the embodiment of consciousness, including a chapter-long rebuttal of some arguments about zombies due to Daniel Dennett. No doubt many of the issues remain unsettled, but this book should give mind-brain identity theory a new lease on life." Colin Beer The Quarterly Review of Biology
Product Description
In Natural Minds Thomas Polger advocates, and defends, the philosophical theory that mind equals brain -- that sensations are brain processes -- and in doing so brings the mind-brain identity theory back into the philosophical debate about consciousness. The version of identity theory that Polger advocates holds that conscious processes, events, states, or properties are type- identical to biological processes, events, states, or properties -- a "tough-minded" account that maintains that minds are necessarily indentical to brains, a position held by few current identity theorists. Polger's approach to what William James called the "great blooming buzzing confusion" of consciousness begins with the idea that we need to know more about brains in order to understand consciousness fully, but recognizes that biology alone cannot provide the entire explanation. Natural Minds takes on issues from philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and metaphysics, moving freely among them in its discussion.Polger begins by answering two major objections to identity theory -- Hilary Putnam's argument from multiple realizability (which discounts identity theory because creatures with brains unlike ours could also have mental states) and Saul Kripke's modal argument against mind-brain identity (based on the apparent contingency of the indentity statement). He then offers a detailed account of functionalism and functional realization, which offer the most serious obstacle to consideration of identity theory. Polger argues that identity theory can itself satisfy the kind of explanatory demands that are often believed to favor functionalism.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Questions about minds are as ancient as any in philosophy. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
Questions about minds are as ancient as any in philosophy. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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