DOCSLIB.ORG

Chapter One 1

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE SOUL IN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY UP TO THE 20TH CENTURY BY ANSAH RICHARD 2008 UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST A HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE SOUL IN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY UP TO THE 20TH CENTURY BY ANSAH RICHARD B.A (HONS) PHILOSOPHY / HISTORY, CAPE COAST THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSICS AND PHILOSOPHY OF THE FACULTY OF ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF CAPE COAST IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MASTER OF PHILOSOPHY DEGREE IN PHILOSOPHY DECEMBER, 2008 ii DECLARATION CANDIDATE’S DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own original research and that no part of it has been presented for another degree in this University or elsewhere. ………………………………………… Date: ………………… ANSAH RICHARD SUPERVISORS’ DECLARATION We hereby declare that the preparation and presentation of the thesis were supervised in accordance with the guidelines on supervision of thesis laid down by the University of Cape Coast. ………………………………………. Date: ……………………….. DR. R. N. OSEI PRINCIPAL SUPERVISOR ………………………………………. Date: ………………………. PROF. J. C. K. AGBAKOBA SUPERVISOR ………………………………………. Date: ……………………….. (NAME………………….) SUPERVISOR iii ABSTRACT The problem of the soul and its content(s) is among the most important problems of philosophy. Various theories as to what the term soul designates have claimed to be reconcilable with the tenets of such philosophical concepts as materialism, idealism, dualism, naturalism, etc. One of the definitions of the soul is that the soul is the ultimate internal principle by which one thinks, feels, and wills, and by which the body is animated. The term "mind" usually denotes this principle as the subject of conscious states, while "soul" denotes the source of vegetative activities as well. That a person’s vital activities proceed from a principle capable of subsisting in itself, is the thesis of the substantiality of the soul: that this principle is not itself composite, extended, corporeal, or essentially and intrinsically dependent on the body, is the doctrine of immaterialism. The assertion of an independent principle (in some sense distinct from the body) is highly acclaimed in substance dualism. Substance dualists mostly believe that the mysteries of birth and death, the lapse of conscious life during sleep and in swooning, the operations of imagination and memory, which abstract a man from his material presence even while awake, suggest the inevitable thought of something besides the visible organism. Even so, the issues of what exactly the soul designates, how it relates or does not relate to the body, how that which is immaterial (as the soul is considered to be), etc. have made it very difficult for one to philosophically do espouse the concept of then soul. This essay has tried to assemble the various conceptions of the soul from the pre-Socratic period to the 20th century. It seems, based on the findings so far, that in the absence of a better and an all-embracing definition of what the term soul designates, dualism offers itself as a better option. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE ii DECLARATION iii ABSTRACT iv TABLE OF CONTENTS v DEDICATION viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix CHAPTER ONE 1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY Introduction 1 Purpose of the study 4 Statement of the problem 5 Hypothesis / Thesis 8 Methodology 9 Limitation / Delimitation 9 Review of literature 10 v CHAPTER TWO 25 PRE-TWENTIETH CENTURY CONCEPTIONS OF THE SOUL: ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL THEORIES OF THE SOUL. 25 The Greek Notion of the soul 25 Pre-Socratic Thinking about the soul 32 Plato’s theories of Soul 34 - The Theory of the Soul in the Phaedo 35 - The Theory of the Soul in the Republic 44 Aristotle’s Theory of Soul 50 Hellenistic Theories of the Soul 53 - Epicurus’ Theory of the Soul 54 - The Stoic Theory of the Soul 57 The Medieval Account of the soul 61 Conclusion 67 CHAPTER THREE 70 TRADITIONAL AND NATURALIST CONCEPTIONS OF THE SOUL 70 The Dualism in some Modern Traditions 85 The Naturalistic / Scientific conception(s) of the soul 94 CHAPTER FOUR 105 ANALYSES OF CONFLICT(S) ON THE SOUL DEBATE 105 vi The soul-body Problem 107 Dualist Solutions to the Soul-body Problem 107 Monist Solutions to the Soul-body Problem 111 Linguistic Criticism of the Soul-body Problem 117 Evaluation of the various conceptions of the soul 123 Contemporary Secular Accounts on the Soul 135 Conclusion 140 Non-Western Concepts of the Soul 144 CHAPTER FIVE 149 LESSONS AND THE DIRECTION OF EUROPEAN WORLDVIEW OF THE SOUL 149 Conflicting Inputs 164 Attention and Awareness 170 Correlates of Consciousness 172 CHAPTER SIX 195 CONCLUSION 195 General Bibliography 202 vii DEDICATION THIS WORK IS DEDICATED TO DR. R. N. OSEI, FOR HIS LOVE, SUPPORT AND PATIENT; TO PROF. OZUMBA, FOR HIS WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT; TO MY FAMILY AND ALL MY FRIENDS. viii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work could not have come to fruition but for the support, assistance and love of some personalities. I would, therefore, like to express my unflagging appreciation to all those who contributed in differing ways to make this work a success. I am first and foremost grateful to God for granting me strength when the going got tough. I would like to say a very big THANK YOU to my Head of Department and Principal Supervisor, Dr. R. N. OSEI for his encouragement, motivation and support throughout the pursuance of my masters programme. Indeed, he (Dr. Osei) has been a caring father to me. Also, I am grateful to Professors J. T. Bedu-Addo, Godfrey O. Ozumba and Ayo Fadahunsi for their priceless contribution to bring this work this far. I am grateful for their concerns, suggestions, corrections and constructive criticisms that contributed immensely to put this work in such an appreciable shape. I would again like to thank all the Senior Members in the Department of Classics and Philosophy – UCC for the concern they showed for my well being. I would like to thank, especially, Mr. P. K. T. Grant, Dr. J. C. A Agbakoba, Dr. Ade Ali, Dr. Muyiwa Falaiye, Dr. Jide Dasaolu, Prof. Alozie and Dr. Karo Ogbinaka for their diverse contributions in making this work a success. ix Another appreciation goes to the Administrative Staff of the Department aforesaid. To Mama Faith, Auntie Grace, Auntie Magie, Auntie Rita, Olivia Dzonto, Armstrong Amoasi and Mr. Adjei, I say God richly bless you all. Also, to all my friends and colleagues who supported me to complete this work, I say God Bless you. My appreciation and gratitude also goes to Miss Rejoice Worlasi Fianoo, Miss Patience Oware and all AGCM members for their prayers and other support that helped me through this programme. Finally, I wish to thank all the writers and critics to whom I have acknowledged in the Bibliography. I wish to state that in spite of all the useful corrections, suggestions, comments and other forms of help, all errors in this work are mine. x Chapter One Background To The Study: Introduction Although the world today is, increasingly, in an age of science, the notion of self and mind is largely construed as non material. Central to most traditional conceptions of the human is the idea that the person possesses a soul, an immaterial essence that persists after the physical self disappears. Even if one does not associate oneself with the traditional conception of the soul, one might still suppose that in addition to being bodies, ‘humans’ are also mental agents, in that consciousness and choice depend on something nonphysical above and beyond the brain – though they (those who hold this view) believe that naturalist thinkers might contest this – they insist that this point is cogent. Further, it is widely believed (by the believers and nonbelievers of the soul alike) that ‘man’ has free will, the power to choose without his (man’s) choices being entirely determined by natural causes and circumstances. There is, thus, a conflict, at the deepest level, between traditional mind-body (or soul- body) dualism and the scientific view about man – the view that man is primarily a physical entity, inseparable from animals in the natural world. The real problem is how to reconcile this conflict, the traditional conception of the soul with the naturalist or scientific conception that seems to have no logical space for the existence of immaterial substances. The growth of experimental psychology in the 20th century spawned a wide variety of schools and scientific approaches to the question: the soul and human specificity. Of particular importance is “methodological behaviourism” and “logical behaviourism.” In simple terms, “behaviourists” consider humans as highly complex 1 machines whose laws and workings can be deduced by scientific observation of their external behaviour. Platonic or Cartesian dualisms are strictly excluded. Criticisms of behaviourism did not delay in coming. Yet the perennial dilemma of the relationship between the body and the soul comes to the fore again in terms of the relationship between the mind (which mostly takes the place of the “soul” in this research) and the body. It is often asked: what is the relationship between the self, subjectivity, the mind, on the one hand, and the biological, chemical and physical organism usually termed the brain, on the other? A wide variety of explanations drawing on neurobiology, the cognitive sciences, information theory, computer science, linguistics and sociology, the theory of identity with the associated question of artificial intelligence, that of emergentism and that of interactive dualism have been suggested. Some philosophers find it difficult to swallow, without qualification, the behaviourist conception of the soul or mind and taking issue with the behaviourist position, insist on the ontological independence of the human mind. The human being is more than an automated mechanism driven by stimulus and response.
Recommended publications
  • A Companion to Analytic Philosophy

    A Companion to Analytic Philosophy

    A Companion to Analytic Philosophy Blackwell Companions to Philosophy This outstanding student reference series offers a comprehensive and authoritative survey of philosophy as a whole. Written by today’s leading philosophers, each volume provides lucid and engaging coverage of the key figures, terms, topics, and problems of the field. Taken together, the volumes provide the ideal basis for course use, represent- ing an unparalleled work of reference for students and specialists alike. Already published in the series 15. A Companion to Bioethics Edited by Helga Kuhse and Peter Singer 1. The Blackwell Companion to Philosophy Edited by Nicholas Bunnin and Eric 16. A Companion to the Philosophers Tsui-James Edited by Robert L. Arrington 2. A Companion to Ethics Edited by Peter Singer 17. A Companion to Business Ethics Edited by Robert E. Frederick 3. A Companion to Aesthetics Edited by David Cooper 18. A Companion to the Philosophy of 4. A Companion to Epistemology Science Edited by Jonathan Dancy and Ernest Sosa Edited by W. H. Newton-Smith 5. A Companion to Contemporary Political 19. A Companion to Environmental Philosophy Philosophy Edited by Robert E. Goodin and Philip Pettit Edited by Dale Jamieson 6. A Companion to Philosophy of Mind 20. A Companion to Analytic Philosophy Edited by Samuel Guttenplan Edited by A. P. Martinich and David Sosa 7. A Companion to Metaphysics Edited by Jaegwon Kim and Ernest Sosa Forthcoming 8. A Companion to Philosophy of Law and A Companion to Genethics Legal Theory Edited by John Harris and Justine Burley Edited by Dennis Patterson 9. A Companion to Philosophy of Religion A Companion to African-American Edited by Philip L.
  • The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams

    The Sexual Politics of Meat by Carol J. Adams

    THE SEXUAL POLITICS OF MEAT A FEMINISTVEGETARIAN CRITICAL THEORY Praise for The Sexual Politics of Meat and Carol J. Adams “A clearheaded scholar joins the ideas of two movements—vegetari- anism and feminism—and turns them into a single coherent and moral theory. Her argument is rational and persuasive. New ground—whole acres of it—is broken by Adams.” —Colman McCarthy, Washington Post Book World “Th e Sexual Politics of Meat examines the historical, gender, race, and class implications of meat culture, and makes the links between the prac tice of butchering/eating animals and the maintenance of male domi nance. Read this powerful new book and you may well become a vegetarian.” —Ms. “Adams’s work will almost surely become a ‘bible’ for feminist and pro gressive animal rights activists. Depiction of animal exploita- tion as one manifestation of a brutal patriarchal culture has been explored in two [of her] books, Th e Sexual Politics of Meat and Neither Man nor Beast: Feminism and the Defense of Animals. Adams argues that factory farming is part of a whole culture of oppression and insti- tutionalized violence. Th e treatment of animals as objects is parallel to and associated with patriarchal society’s objectifi cation of women, blacks, and other minorities in order to routinely exploit them. Adams excels in constructing unexpected juxtapositions by using the language of one kind of relationship to illuminate another. Employing poetic rather than rhetorical techniques, Adams makes powerful connec- tions that encourage readers to draw their own conclusions.” —Choice “A dynamic contribution toward creating a feminist/animal rights theory.” —Animals’ Agenda “A cohesive, passionate case linking meat-eating to the oppression of animals and women .
  • Groove 4 Fram.Indd

    Groove 4 Fram.Indd

    Nummer 4 • 2005 Sveriges största musiktidning Timbuktu vs Robyn Faith Evans Meshuggah Aimee Mann Fantômas Turbonegro • Form One • Kalle Kath • Swedens Finest • Tingsek • Wan Light ELDKVARN ”Atlantis” ”Eldkvarn brinner igen. Deras största stund sedan ”Limbo”. AFTONBLADET ”Nytända veteraner. Det glöder och sprakar. Eldkvarn värmer och berör mer än på länge.” SYDSVENSKA DAGBLADET ”Eldkvarn är mer rätt än någonsin.” SVENSKA DAGBLADET ”Eldkvarn kopplar greppet. Såväl Plura Jonsson som Eldkvarn tycks må bättre än på mycket länge. ” GÖTEBORGS-POSTEN FAITH EVANS ”First Lady” Faith Evans tillbaka med sitt fjärde album. Återigen är det stora influenser från både 70- och 80-talet. Ett av årets definitiva R&B-album! Innehåller singeln ”Again”. The Beach Boys ”The Platinum Collection” Sommar, sol och värme! ”The Platinum Collection” är det ultimata soundtracket till sommarens grillfester! GORILLAZ ”Demon Days” De animerade hjältarna är tillbaka! Uppföljaren till den självbetitlade debuten innehåller bl.a. singeln ”Feel Good Inc.”. Släpps 25 maj! COLDPLAY ”X&Y” Coldplays tredje och mycket efterlängtade album "X&Y" släpps 8 juni! D-A-D ”Scare Yourself” Danmarks evigt unga rockveteraner är tillbaka med ett nytt studioalbum! Finns i butik 25 maj. Groove 4 • 2005 Fantômas sidan 7 10 år – 84 nummer Fyra frågor till Turbonegro sidan 7 Första gången jag såg musiktid- allt fantastiskt roligt, och mer blir ”Ebba, skriv 3 000 tecken!” sidan 7 ningen Groove var sommaren det framöver. Det är ju bättre än att 1995. Det låg några ex ovanpå skaffa ett jobb… Aimee Mann sidan 8 ett KISS-flipperspel på en numera Massvis av medarbetare har avsomnad skivbutik längst upp på passerat revy, och några finns fak- You are the generation that… sidan 8 Omslag Kungsgatan i Göteborg.
  • Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece

    Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece

    Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Ancient Greek Philosophy but didn’t Know Who to Ask Edited by Patricia F. O’Grady MEET THE PHILOSOPHERS OF ANCIENT GREECE Dedicated to the memory of Panagiotis, a humble man, who found pleasure when reading about the philosophers of Ancient Greece Meet the Philosophers of Ancient Greece Everything you always wanted to know about Ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask Edited by PATRICIA F. O’GRADY Flinders University of South Australia © Patricia F. O’Grady 2005 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Patricia F. O’Grady has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identi.ed as the editor of this work. Published by Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court East Suite 420 Union Road 101 Cherry Street Farnham Burlington Surrey, GU9 7PT VT 05401-4405 England USA Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask 1. Philosophy, Ancient 2. Philosophers – Greece 3. Greece – Intellectual life – To 146 B.C. I. O’Grady, Patricia F. 180 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meet the philosophers of ancient Greece: everything you always wanted to know about ancient Greek philosophy but didn’t know who to ask / Patricia F.
  • Reflexive Monism

    Reflexive Monism

    Reflexive Monism Max Velmans, Goldsmiths, University of London; email [email protected]; http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/psychology/staff/velmans.php Journal of Consciousness Studies (2008), 15(2), 5-50. Abstract. Reflexive monism is, in essence, an ancient view of how consciousness relates to the material world that has, in recent decades, been resurrected in modern form. In this paper I discuss how some of its basic features differ from both dualism and variants of physicalist and functionalist reductionism, focusing on those aspects of the theory that challenge deeply rooted presuppositions in current Western thought. I pay particular attention to the ontological status and seeming “out- thereness” of the phenomenal world and to how the “phenomenal world” relates to the “physical world”, the “world itself”, and processing in the brain. In order to place the theory within the context of current thought and debate, I address questions that have been raised about reflexive monism in recent commentaries and also evaluate competing accounts of the same issues offered by “transparency theory” and by “biological naturalism”. I argue that, of the competing views on offer, reflexive monism most closely follows the contours of ordinary experience, the findings of science, and common sense. Key words: Consciousness, reflexive, monism, dualism, reductionism, physicalism, functionalism, transparency, biological naturalism, phenomenal world, physical world, world itself, universe itself, brain, perceptual projection, phenomenal space, measured space, physical space, space perception, information, virtual reality, hologram, phenomenological internalism, phenomenological externalism, first person, third person, complementary What is Reflexive Monism? Monism is the view that the universe, at the deepest level of analysis, is one thing, or composed of one fundamental kind of stuff.
  • Theories of Personal Identity

    Theories of Personal Identity

    Dean Zimmerman Materialism, Dualism, and “Simple” Theories of Personal Identity “Complex” and “Simple” Theories of Personal Identity Derek Parfit introduced “the Complex View” and “the Simple View” as names for contrasting theories about the nature of personal identity. He detects a “reductionist tradition”, typified by Hume and Locke, and continuing in such twentieth‐century philosophers as Grice, Ayer, Quinton, Mackie, John Perry, David Lewis, and Parfit himself. According to the Reductionists, “the fact of personal identity over time just consists in the holding of certain other facts. It consists in various kinds of psychological continuity, of memory, character, intention, and the like, which in turn rest upon bodily continuity.” The Complex View comprises “[t]he central claims of the reductionist tradition” (Parfit 1982, p. 227). The Complex View about the nature of personal identity is a forerunner to what he later calls “Reductionism”. A Reductionist is anyone who believes (1) that the fact of a person’s identity over time just consists in the holding of certain more particular facts, and (2) that these facts can be described without either presupposing the identity of this person, or explicitly claiming that the experiences in this person’s life are had by this person, or even explicitly claiming that this person exists. (Parfit 1984, p. 210) Take the fact that someone remembers that she, herself, witnessed a certain event at an earlier time. When described in those terms, it “presupposes” or “explicitly claims” that the same person is involved in both the episode of witnessing and of remembering. Purging the psychological facts of all those that 1 immediately imply the cross‐temporal identity of a person will leave plenty of grist for the mills of psychological theories of persistence conditions.
  • Trade Marks Journal No: 1800 , 05/06/2017 Class 39 2249797 14

    Trade Marks Journal No: 1800 , 05/06/2017 Class 39 2249797 14

    Trade Marks Journal No: 1800 , 05/06/2017 Class 39 2249797 14/12/2011 YASH RAJ CHOPRA ADITYA CHOPRA UDAY CHOPRA MRS. PAMELA CHOPRA trading as ;YASH RAJ FILMS YASH RAJ FILMS, #5, SHAH INDUSTRIAL ESTATE, VEERA DESAI ROAD, ANDHERI (WEST), MUMBAI-400053, INDIA. SERVICE PROVIDER AND DISTRIBUTOR A PARTNERSHIP FIRM Address for service in India/Attorney address: BRAIN LEAGUE IP SERVICES Brain League IP Services,No. 18, 2nd floor,5th A Cross,24th Main, J.P.Nagar 2nd phase, Bangalore-78 Proposed to be Used MUMBAI TRANSPORT; PACKAGING AND STORAGE OF GOODS; TRAVEL ARRANGEMENT USED IN INDUSTRY 6244 Trade Marks Journal No: 1800 , 05/06/2017 Class 39 2274329 31/01/2012 B. G. CHITALE DAIRIES PRIVATE LIMITED BHILAWADI STATION, TAL. PALUS, DIST. SANGALI-416 303, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA SERVICE PROVIDER AN INDIAN COMPANY REGISTERED UNDER THE PROVISIONS OF INDIAN COMPANIES ACT, 1956 Address for service in India/Agents address: BHATE & PONKSHE. INDIRA, PLOT NO. 4/5/5A, PATWARDHAN BAUG, ERANDAWANA, PUNE - 411 004 Used Since :26/10/1983 MUMBAI TRANSPORT (BUS/CAR/LORRY), TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS, CAR RENTAL AND OTHER RELATED SERVICES INCLUDED IN CLASS 39 6245 Trade Marks Journal No: 1800 , 05/06/2017 Class 39 2414363 18/10/2012 CHINMOY SAHA trading as ;INDUS TOUR AND TRAVELS UTTARAPAN MARKET,C.I.T. SCHEME VIIM,DS-IV,ROOM NO.F-17,1ST FLOOR,ULTADANGA,KOLKATA 700054,WEST BENGAL SERVICE PROVIDER SOLE PROPRIETOR BEING INDIAN CITIZEN Address for service in India/Attorney address: DAS & ASSOCIATES 56/6,THAKUR RAMKRISHNA LANE,HOWRAH 711 104,WEST BENGAL,INDIA Used Since :20/07/2012 KOLKATA TOURISM & TRAVELS ARRANGMENT.
  • Apple Academic Press Author Copy

    Apple Academic Press Author Copy

    NATURAL POLYMERS, BIOPOLYMERS, BIOMATERIALS, AND THEIR COMPOSITES, BLENDS, AND IPNS Press Copy Academic Author Apple Press Copy Academic Author Apple Advances in Materials Science Volume 2 NATURAL POLYMERS, BIOPOLYMERS, BIOMATERIALS, AND THEIR COMPOSITES, BLENDS, ANDPress IPNS Copy Edited By Sabu Thomas, PhAcademicD, Neethu Ninan, Sneha Mohan and Elizabeth Francis Author Apple Apple Academic Press TORONTO NEW JERSEY © 2013 by Apple Academic Press Inc. 3333 Mistwell Crescent Oakville, ON L6L 0A2 Canada Apple Academic Press Inc. 1613 Beaver Dam Road, Suite # 104 Point Pleasant, NJ 08742 USA Exclusive worldwide distribution by CRC Press, a Taylor & Francis Group International Standard Book Number: 978-1-926895-16-1 (Hardback) Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Press Library of Congress Control Number: 2012935654 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Natural polymers, biopolymers, biomaterials, and their composites, blends, and IPNs/edited by Sabu Thomas ... [et al.]. (Recent advances in materials science; 2) Copy Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-926895-16-1 1. Biopolymers. 2. Polymeric composites. I. Thomas, Sabu II. Series: Recent advances in materialsAcademic science (Toronto); 2 QP801.B69N38 2012 572’.33 C2012-900042-6 Trademark Notice: Registered trademark of products or corporate names are used only for explanation and identification without intent to infringe. Author This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprinted material is quoted with permissionApple and sources are indicated. A wide variety of references are listed. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the authors, editors, and the publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use.
  • The Mind–Body Problem: an Overview

    The Mind–Body Problem: an Overview

    The Mind–Body Problem: An Overview Chapter 1 The Mind–Body Problem: An Overview Kirk Ludwig I have said that the soul is not more than the body, And I have said that the body is not more than the soul, And nothing, not God, is greater to one than one’s self is. Walt Whitman 1.1 Introduction Understanding the place of thought and feeling in the natural world is central to that general comprehension of nature, as well as that special self-understanding, which are the primary goals of science and philosophy. The general form of the project, which has exercised scientists and philosophers since the ancient world, is given by the question, ‘What is the relation, in general, between mental and physical phenomena?’ There is no settled agreement on the correct answer. This is the single most important gap in our understanding of the natural world. The trouble is that the question presents us with a problem: each possible answer to it has consequences that appear unacceptable. This problem has traditionally gone under the heading ‘The Mind–Body Problem.’1 My primary aim in this chapter is to explain in what this traditional mind–body problem consists, what its possible solutions are, and what obstacles lie in the way of a resolution. The discussion will develop in two phases. The first phase, sections 1.2–1.4, will be concerned to get clearer about the import of our initial question as a precondition of developing an account of possible responses to it. The second phase, sections 1.5–1.6, explains how a problem arises in our attempts to answer the question we have characterized, and surveys the various solutions that can be and have been offered.
  • Materialism and “The Soft Substance of the Brain”: the Case of Diderot Charles T. Wolfe Department of Philosophy and Moral S

    Materialism and “The Soft Substance of the Brain”: the Case of Diderot Charles T. Wolfe Department of Philosophy and Moral S

    Materialism and “the soft substance of the brain”: the case of Diderot Charles T. Wolfe Department of Philosophy and Moral Sciences Sarton Centre for History of Science Ghent University Longer draft (2015) of paper forthcoming in British Journal of History of Philosophy (a number of additional citations appear in published version) Abstract Materialism is the view that everything that is real, is material or is the product of material processes. It tends to take either a ‘cosmological’ form, as a claim about the ultimate nature of the world, or a more specific ‘psychological’ form, detailing how mental processes are brain processes. I focus on the second, psychological or cerebral form of materialism. In the mid-to-late eighteenth century, the French materialist philosopher Denis Diderot (1713-1784) was one of the first to notice that any self-respecting materialist had to address the question of the status and functional role of the brain, and its relation to our mental, affective, intellectual life. After this the topic grew stale, with knee-jerk reiterations of ‘psychophysical identity’ in the nineteenth-century, and equally rigid assertions of anti-materialism. In 1960s philosophy of mind, brain-mind materialism reemerged as ‘identity theory’, focusing on the identity between mental processes and cerebral processes. In contrast, Diderot’s cerebral materialism allows for a more culturally sedimented sense of the brain, which he describes in his late Elements of Physiology as a “book – except it is a book which reads itself”. Diderot thus provides a lesson for materialism as it reflects on the status of the brain, science and culture.
  • Varatchi Karappan

    Varatchi Karappan

    NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF SIDDHA Chennai – 47 THE TAMIL NADU DR. M.G.R. MEDICAL UNIVERSITY, CHENNAI - 32 PRE CLINICAL AND CLINICAL STUDY ON VARATCHI KARAPPAN (DISSERTATION SUBJECT) For the partial fulfillment of the requirements to the Degree of DOCTOR OF MEDICINE (SIDDHA) BRANCH III – DEPARTMENT OF SIRAPPU MARUTHUVAM 2010-2013 CERTIFICATE Certified that I have gone through the dissertation submitted by Dr.K.KAVIARASI (Register No: 32102201), a student of final M.D(S), Branch- III, Department of Sirappu Maruthuvam, National Institute of Siddha, Tambaram Sanatorium, Chennai-47, and the dissertation work has been carried out by the individual only. This dissertation does not represent or reproduce the dissertation submitted and approved earlier. Place: Chennai-47 Prof.Dr.K.MANICKAVASAKAM,M.D(s)., Date: Head of the Department i/c, Dept. of Sirappu Maruthuvam, National Institute of Siddha, Chennai – 600 047. CERTIFICATE Certified that I have gone through the dissertation submitted by Dr.K.KAVIARASI (Register No: 32102201), a student of final M.D(S), Branch- III, Department of Sirappu Maruthuvam, National Institute of Siddha, Tambaram Sanatorium, Chennai-47, and the dissertation work has been carried out by the individual only. This dissertation does not represent or reproduce the dissertation submitted and approved earlier. Place: Chennai-47 Prof.Dr.K.MANICKAVASAKAM,M.D(s)., Date: Head of the Department i/c, Dept. of Sirappu Maruthuvam, National Institute of Siddha, Chennai – 600 047. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I express my profound sense of gratitude to Prof. Dr. K. Manickavasakam, M.D(S), Director, National Institute of Siddha, Chennai-47. I extend my sincere heartfelt thanks to Prof.
  • Margolis and Popper on Cultural Entities”

    Margolis and Popper on Cultural Entities”

    Nordic N P Studies in S Pragmatism 2015 Helsinki — Ilkka Niiniluoto “Margolis and Popper on Cultural Entities” In: Dirk-Martin Grube and Robert Sinclair (Eds.) (2015). Pragmatism, Metaphysics and Culture—Reflections on the Philosophy of Joseph Margolis (pp. 124–136). Nordic Studies in Pragmatism 2. Helsinki: Nordic Pragmatism Network. issn-l 1799-3954 issn 1799-3954 isbn 978-952-67497-1-6 Copyright c 2015 The Authors and the Nordic Pragmatism Network. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. CC BY NC For more information, see http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ Nordic Pragmatism Network, NPN Helsinki 2015 www.nordprag.org Margolis and Popper on Cultural Entities Ilkka Niiniluoto University of Helsinki In spite of different philosophical backgrounds, Joseph Margolis and Karl Popper share an important insight: they both use nonreductive material- ism to give an account of persons and other cultural entities. In this paper, I give a critical survey of some interesting points of convergence and diver- gence between these two remarkable thinkers. Their main agreement con- cerns human persons: Margolis compares them to cultural artifacts, and Popper also concludes (or at least should conclude) that self-conscious persons are World 3 entities. Even though Margolis has worked more systematically on art and aesthetics, I will argue that Popper’s notion of World 3 offers better resources for understanding the ontological status of human-made abstract entities, among them some works of art, social institutions, and mathematical objects. Two philosophers of culture Joseph Margolis (b. 1924) is a prolific author who has discussed a wide range of topics both in Anglo-American and Continental philosophy.