Raw feeling : a philosophical account of the essence of consciousness / Robert Kirk.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kirk, Robert, 1933-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Consciousness.

Mind and body.

Philosophy of mind.

Metaphysics.

Physical Description:

ix, 251 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1994.

Summary:

Consciousness is a perennial source of mystification in the philosophy of mind: how can processes in the brain amount to conscious experiences? Robert Kirk uses the notion of "raw feeling" to bridge the intelligibility gap between our knowledge of ourselves as physical organisms and our knowledge of ourselves as subjects of experience; he argues that there is no need for recourse to dualism or private mental objects. The task is to understand how the truth about raw feeling could be strictly implied by narrowly physical truths. Kirk's explanation turns on an account of what it is to be a subject of conscious perceptual experience. He offers penetrating analyses of the problems of consciousness and suggests novel solutions. His sustained defense of non-reductive physicalism shows that we need not abandon hope of finding a solution to the mind-body problem.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN:

0198240813

OCLC:

28338201