Computationalism in the Philosophy of Mind
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Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Chemistry
Philosophy of Science and Philosophy of Chemistry Jaap van Brakel Abstract: In this paper I assess the relation between philosophy of chemistry and (general) philosophy of science, focusing on those themes in the philoso- phy of chemistry that may bring about major revisions or extensions of cur- rent philosophy of science. Three themes can claim to make a unique contri- bution to philosophy of science: first, the variety of materials in the (natural and artificial) world; second, extending the world by making new stuff; and, third, specific features of the relations between chemistry and physics. Keywords : philosophy of science, philosophy of chemistry, interdiscourse relations, making stuff, variety of substances . 1. Introduction Chemistry is unique and distinguishes itself from all other sciences, with respect to three broad issues: • A (variety of) stuff perspective, requiring conceptual analysis of the notion of stuff or material (Sections 4 and 5). • A making stuff perspective: the transformation of stuff by chemical reaction or phase transition (Section 6). • The pivotal role of the relations between chemistry and physics in connection with the question how everything fits together (Section 7). All themes in the philosophy of chemistry can be classified in one of these three clusters or make contributions to general philosophy of science that, as yet , are not particularly different from similar contributions from other sci- ences (Section 3). I do not exclude the possibility of there being more than three clusters of philosophical issues unique to philosophy of chemistry, but I am not aware of any as yet. Moreover, highlighting the issues discussed in Sections 5-7 does not mean that issues reviewed in Section 3 are less im- portant in revising the philosophy of science. -
Mind Body Problem and Brandom's Analytic Pragmatism
The Mind-Body Problem and Brandom’s Analytic Pragmatism François-Igor Pris [email protected] Erfurt University (Nordhäuserstraße 63, 99089 Erfurt, Germany) Abstract. I propose to solve the hard problem in the philosophy of mind by means of Brandom‟s notion of the pragmatically mediated semantic relation. The explanatory gap between a phenomenal concept and the corresponding theoretical concept is a gap in the pragmatically mediated semantic relation between them. It is closed if we do not neglect the pragmatics. 1 Introduction In the second section, I will formulate the hard problem. In the third section, I will describe a pragmatic approach to the problem and propose to replace the classical non-normative physicalism/naturalism with a normative physicalism/naturalism of Wittgensteinian language games. In subsection 3.1, I will give a definition of a normative naturalism. In subsection 3.2, I will make some suggestions concerning an analytic interpretation of the second philosophy of Wittgenstein. In the fourth section, I will propose a solution to the hard problem within Brandom‟s analytic pragmatism by using the notion of the pragmatically mediated semantic relation. In the fifth section, I will make some suggestions about possible combinatorics related to pragmatically mediated semantic relations. In the sixth section, I will consider pragmatic and discursive versions of the mind-body identity M=B. In the last section, I will conclude that the explanatory gap is a gap in a pragmatically mediated semantic relation between B and M. It is closed if we do not neglect pragmatics. 2 The Hard Problem The hard problem in the philosophy of mind can be formulated as follows. -
Rocco J. Gennaro – Professor of Philosophy
Rocco J. Gennaro – Professor of Philosophy Department of Philosophy College of Liberal Arts, LA 3023 University of Southern Indiana 8600 University Boulevard Evansville, IN 47712 Email: [email protected] Phone: 812-464-1744 Fax: 812-465-7152 Education: Ph.D. (Philosophy) Syracuse University 1991 B.A. (Philosophy/Religion) Hunter College (CUNY) 1985 Primary Areas of Specialization/Interest: Philosophy of Mind & Cognitive Science, Metaphysics, History of Early Modern Philosophy//Applied Ethics, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Science, History of Analytic Philosophy. Mind and Cognitive Science, Area Editor, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (www.iep.utm.edu) Major Publications: Books: The Consciousness Paradox: Consciousness, Concepts, and Higher-Order Thoughts, The MIT Press, 2012. The Interplay between Consciousness and Concepts, editor, Imprint Academic, 2007. This is a special double Issue of the Journal of Consciousness Studies (vol. 14, Sept/Oct) which I guest edited. It is also sold separately as a book. Higher-Order Theories of Consciousness, editor, John Benjamins Publishers, 2004. A Dialogue on Ethical Issues of Life and Death, University Press of America, 2002. New Essays on the Rationalists, edited with Charles Huenemann, Oxford University Press, 1999. Consciousness and Self-Consciousness: A Defense of the Higher-Order Thought Theory of Consciousness, John Benjamins Publishers, 1996. (Advances in Consciousness Research series.) Mind and Brain: A Dialogue on the Mind-Body Problem, Hackett Publishing Company, 1996. Articles, Book Chapters, Selected Book Reviews: “Review of Christof Koch‟s Consciousness: Confessions of a Romantic Reductionist,” The American Journal of Psychology, forthcoming 2013. “The Argument from Brain Damage Vindicated” (with Yonatan Fishman) in The Myth of Afterlife: The Case against Life after Death, Michael Martin & Keith Augustine (eds.), McFarland Publishers, forthcoming 2012. -
Generative Models, Structural Similarity, and Mental Representation
The Mind as a Predictive Modelling Engine: Generative Models, Structural Similarity, and Mental Representation Daniel George Williams Trinity Hall College University of Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2018 The Mind as a Predictive Modelling Engine: Generative Models, Structural Similarity, and Mental Representation Daniel Williams Abstract I outline and defend a theory of mental representation based on three ideas that I extract from the work of the mid-twentieth century philosopher, psychologist, and cybernetician Kenneth Craik: first, an account of mental representation in terms of idealised models that capitalize on structural similarity to their targets; second, an appreciation of prediction as the core function of such models; and third, a regulatory understanding of brain function. I clarify and elaborate on each of these ideas, relate them to contemporary advances in neuroscience and machine learning, and favourably contrast a predictive model-based theory of mental representation with other prominent accounts of the nature, importance, and functions of mental representations in cognitive science and philosophy. For Marcella Montagnese Preface Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. -
Splitting Concepts
University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Philosophy Faculty Works Philosophy 10-1-2006 Splitting Concepts Gualtiero Piccinini University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Sam Scott Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/philosophy-faculty Part of the Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Gualtiero Piccinini and Sam Scott, "Splitting Concepts," Philosophy of Science 73, no. 4 (October 2006): 390-409. https://doi.org/10.1086/516806 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Philosophy at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Philosophy Faculty Works by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Splitting Concepts* Gualtiero Piccinini and Sam Scott†‡ A common presupposition in the concepts literature is that concepts constitute a sin- gular natural kind. If, on the contrary, concepts split into more than one kind, this literature needs to be recast in terms of other kinds of mental representation. We offer two new arguments that concepts, in fact, divide into different kinds: (a) concepts split because different kinds of mental representation, processed independently, must be posited to explain different sets of relevant phenomena; (b) concepts split because different kinds of mental representation, processed independently, must be posited to explain responses to different kinds of category. Whether these arguments are sound remains an open empirical question, to be resolved by future empirical and theoretical work. 1. Introduction. In the past 35 years, psychologists, philosophers, and linguists have generated a vast interdisciplinary literature on the nature of concepts. This literature has produced three main families of psycho- logical theories: the prototype, exemplar, and theory theories of concepts (e.g., Hampton [1993] for prototypes, Nosofsky [1988] for exemplars, and Gopnik and Meltzoff [1997] for theories). -
Trends in Philosophy of Mind and in Philosophy of Neuroscience
Trends in Philosophy of Mind and in Philosophy of Neuroscience Juan José Sanguineti School of Philosophy, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Rome, Italy Published with permission of Springer Science + Business Media, 2015 In P. A. Gargiulo, H. L. Mesones-Arroyo (eds.), Psychiatry and Neuroscience Update. Bridging the Divide, Springer, Heidelberg 2015, pp. 23-37. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-17103-6 Abstract. This paper presents current trends in philosophy of mind and philosophy of neuroscience, with a special focus on neuroscientists dealing with some topics usually discussed by philosophers of mind. The aim is to detect the philosophical views of those scientists, such as Eccles, Gazzaniga, Damasio, Changeux, and others, which are not easy to classify according to the standard divisions of dualism, functionalism, emergentism, and others. As the variety of opinions in these fields is sometimes a source of confusion, it is worth the effort to obtain an overall panorama of the topic. A general conclusion on epistemological and ontological issues, concerning the relationship between neurobiology and philosophy and the multi-level account of the embodied mind, is proposed. Key words: Dualism, monism, behaviorism, functionalism, reductionism, emergentism, enactivism, mind, mental acts, self, body, soul, person. 1. Introduction Philosophical questions concerning the nature of the mind and its relationship with the body are usually addressed by philosophy of mind. This area of philosophy inherits the traditional issue of the relationship between the soul and the body, interpreted in modern terms as the mind and the brain. Whereas the classical view of the problem was thoroughly ontological, going back to ancient philosophers as Plato and Aristotle, philosophy of mind, born in the twentieth century, is generally more epistemological, posing its object of inquiry within a scientific framework. -
An Introduction to Late British Associationism and Its Context This Is a Story About Philosophy. Or About Science
Chapter 1: An Introduction to Late British Associationism and Its Context This is a story about philosophy. Or about science. Or about philosophy transforming into science. Or about science and philosophy, and how they are related. Or were, in a particular time and place. At least, that is the general area that the following narrative will explore, I hope with sufficient subtlety. The matter is rendered non-transparent by the fact that that the conclusions one draws with regard to such questions are, in part, matters of discretionary perspective – as I will try to demonstrate. My specific historical focus will be on the propagation of a complex intellectual tradition concerned with human sensation, perception, and mental function in early nineteenth century Britain. Not only philosophical opinion, but all aspects of British intellectual – and practical – life, were in the process of significant transformation during this time. This cultural flux further confuses recovery of the situated significance of the intellectual tradition I am investigating. The study of the mind not only was influenced by a set of broad social shifts, but it also participated in them fully as both stimulus to and recipient of changing conditions. One indication of this is simply the variety of terms used to identify the ‘philosophy of mind’ as an intellectual enterprise in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.1 But the issue goes far deeper into the fluid constitutive features of the enterprise - including associated conceptual systems, methods, intentions of practitioners, and institutional affiliations. In order to understand philosophy of mind in its time, we must put all these factors into play. -
The Causal Efficacy of Consciousness
entropy Article The Causal Efficacy of Consciousness Matthew Owen 1,2 1 Yakima Valley College, Yakima, WA 98902, USA; [email protected] 2 Center for Consciousness Science, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA Received: 10 June 2020; Accepted: 17 July 2020; Published: 28 July 2020 Abstract: Mental causation is vitally important to the integrated information theory (IIT), which says consciousness exists since it is causally efficacious. While it might not be directly apparent, metaphysical commitments have consequential entailments concerning the causal efficacy of consciousness. Commitments regarding the ontology of consciousness and the nature of causation determine which problem(s) a view of consciousness faces with respect to mental causation. Analysis of mental causation in contemporary philosophy of mind has brought several problems to the fore: the alleged lack of psychophysical laws, the causal exclusion problem, and the causal pairing problem. This article surveys the threat each problem poses to IIT based on the different metaphysical commitments IIT theorists might make. Distinctions are made between what I call reductive IIT, non-reductive IIT, and non-physicalist IIT, each of which make differing metaphysical commitments regarding the ontology of consciousness and nature of causation. Subsequently, each problem pertaining to mental causation is presented and its threat, or lack thereof, to each version of IIT is considered. While the lack of psychophysical laws appears unthreatening for all versions, reductive IIT and non-reductive IIT are seriously threatened by the exclusion problem, and it is difficult to see how they could overcome it while maintaining a commitment to the causal closure principle. -
International Journal of Action Research Volume 5, Issue 1, 2009
International Journal of Action Research Volume 5, Issue 1, 2009 Editorial Werner Fricke, Øyvind Pålshaugen 5 Popular Education and Participatory Research: Facing Inequalities in Latin America Danilo R. Streck 13 Organizing – A Strategic Option for Trade Union Renewal? Klaus Dörre, Hajo Holst, Oliver Nachtwey 33 Phronesis as the Sense of the Event Ole Fogh Kirkeby 68 Opening to the World through the Lived Body: Relating Theory and Practice in Organisation Consulting Robert Farrands 114 Book review Olav Eikeland (2008): The Ways of Aristotle. Aristotelian phrónêsis, Aristotelian Philosophy of Dialogue, and Action Research reviewed by Ole Fogh Kirkeby 144 Phronesis as the Sense of the Event Ole Fogh Kirkeby In this article, the Greek concept of phronesis is analyzed on the basis of its philosophical roots, and the indispensability of its strong normative content is emphasized. This creates a distance to most of the recent under- standing of phronesis as prudence, and hence as practical wisdom with a pragmatic and strategic content. The strong dilemmas created by the nor- mative background of real phronesis present management and leadership as a choice in every situation. From this foundation, phronesis is inter- preted as primarily the sense of the event, and an alternative concept of the event is developed. The presentation of the event also demands a theory of the relation of mind and matter, and hence of the body in the event. This is achieved under inspiration from Stoic philosophy. With this in mind, the more serious approaches to practical wisdom: phronesis as determinant of meta-concepts of research; phronesis as a liberating organizational strategy of learning; phronesis as a strategy of knowledge management; phronesis as a narrative strategy; and phronesis as the capacity of the leader, are presented and analyzed. -
Naturalism and the Mind-Body Problem
Blog | Bookstore | Contact | Phil of Religion/Apologetics | Academic Papers Naturalism and the Mind-body Problem John M. DePoe The mind-body problem is a particularly difficult problem for naturalism. A strict naturalist is committed to believing tha t all reality is material/physical or reducible to the material/physical realm. Our immediate, introspective awareness of the realm of consciousness, thoughts, and other qualitative mental experiences seems to lie outside the purview of a naturalistic worl dview. In this essay, I will show the main attempts to "naturalize" the mind, and show how they fail. Since the mind seems to include fundamentally immaterial and non-physical elements, we have good reasons to reject naturalism. Reductive Materialism One of the first attempts to naturalize the mind tried to reduce mental entities to material/physical entities. Reductive accounts do not deny that the mind and mental concepts exists. The "mind" exists, on reductive accounts, but it is reducible/identifiable to certain material/physical things. Two exemplifications of this approach are philosophical behaviorism and type identity theories. Philosophical Behaviorism Philosophical behaviorism, which was championed by Gilbert Ryle in his classic work in philosop hy of mind, The Concept of Mind , attempts to explain the alleged immaterial aspects of the mind in terms of observable behavior. Philosophical behaviorism follows from this sort of reasoning: 1. Every mental sentence (i.e., sentence using mental terms) can be analyzed by, or shown to be equivalent in meaning to, a sentence that uses only behavior terms and other nonmental terms. Hence, 2. We need not use mental terms and mental sentences for purposes of describing behavior. -
Scott Marratto CV
MARRATTO :: CURRICULUM VITAE (UPDATED 1 APRIL 20) SCOTT MARRATTO ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT MICHIGAN TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY CONTACT INFORMATION • Humanities Department Michigan Technological University 1400 Townsend Drive Houghton, MI 49931-1295 • Phone: (906) 487-2613 • Email: [email protected] • Web: mtu.edu/humanities/department/faculty-staff/faculty/marratto/ AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION AND COMPETENCE • AOS: 19th and 20th Century Continental Philosophy (especially Phenomenology), Social and Political Philosophy • AOC: Philosophy of Science and Technology, Ethics, Ancient Philosophy, Aesthetics, Philosophy of Mind ACADEMIC POSITIONS • Associate Professor of Philosophy, Humanities Department, Michigan Technological University, 2011-present • Director of Graduate Studies in Rhetoric, Theory and Culture, Humanities Department, Michigan Technological University, 2015-2018 • Senior Fellow, Foundation Year Programme, University of King’s College, Halifax, 2010- 2011 • Instructor, Contemporary Studies Programme, University of King’s College, Halifax, 2009-2011 • Teaching Fellow, Foundation Year Programme, University of King’s College, Halifax, 2007-2010 EDUCATION • University of Guelph, PhD, Philosophy (2010) • University of Guelph, MA, Philosophy (2005) • University of Toronto, Special/Non-degree, Philosophy (2001-2) • University of Western Ontario, BA, Sociology (2001) PUBLICATIONS Books 1 MARRATTO :: CURRICULUM VITAE (UPDATED 1 APRIL 20) • The Intercorporeal Self: Merleau-Ponty on Subjectivity. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press (2012). o Reviews: Symposium: Canadian Journal of Continental Philosophy, March (2013); Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, February (2013); Review of Metaphysics 67 (2013); Avant V (2014); Word and Text: A Journal of Literary Studies and Linguistics 3 (2013). • The End of Ethics in a Technological Society. Montreal, QC: McGill-Queens University Press (2008). (With Lawrence E. Schmidt.) Book Chapters • “Intercorporeality.” In 50 Concepts for a Critical Phenomenology, eds. -
Get the Latest Upgrade: Functionalism 6.3.1
Philosophia Scientiæ Travaux d'histoire et de philosophie des sciences 17-2 | 2013 The Mind–Brain Problem in Cognitive Neuroscience Get the Latest Upgrade: Functionalism 6.3.1 Corey Maley and Gualtiero Piccinini Electronic version URL: http://journals.openedition.org/philosophiascientiae/861 DOI: 10.4000/philosophiascientiae.861 ISSN: 1775-4283 Publisher Éditions Kimé Printed version Date of publication: 1 May 2013 Number of pages: 135-149 ISBN: 978-2-84174-631-6 ISSN: 1281-2463 Electronic reference Corey Maley and Gualtiero Piccinini, « Get the Latest Upgrade: Functionalism 6.3.1 », Philosophia Scientiæ [Online], 17-2 | 2013, Online since 27 June 2013, connection on 03 November 2020. URL : http://journals.openedition.org/philosophiascientiae/861 ; DOI : https://doi.org/10.4000/ philosophiascientiae.861 Tous droits réservés Get the Latest Upgrade: Functionalism 6.3.1 Corey Maley University of Missouri, Saint Louis (USA) Gualtiero Piccinini University of Missouri, Saint Louis (USA) Résumé : Le fonctionnalisme est une solution populaire au problème esprit– corps. Il a un certain nombre de versions. Nous en exposons certaines parmi les principales, en énumérant une partie de leurs caractéristiques les plus im- portantes ainsi que certains « bugs » qui les ont entachées. Nous présentons comment les différentes variantes sont liées. Nombreux ont été les pessimistes à propos des perspectives du fonctionnalisme, mais la plupart des critiques ne tiennent pas compte des dernières mises à jour. Nous finissons en suggé- rant une variante du fonctionnalisme qui fournit une description complète de l’esprit. Abstract: Functionalism is a popular solution to the mind–body problem. It has a number of versions. We outline some of the major releases of func- tionalism, listing some of their important features as well as some of the bugs that plagued these releases.