Mind and emergence : from quantum to consciousness / Philip Clayton.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clayton, Philip, 1956-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophical theology.

Philosophy of mind.

Consciousness--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Consciousness.

Evolution--Religious aspects--Christianity.

Evolution.

Physical Description:

x, 236 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford [England] ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2004.

Summary:

Mind and Emergence examines the case for emergence in contemporary science and philosophy. A variety of recent scientific results have challenged a reductively physicalist understanding of the natural world, suggesting instead that evolution produces a series of interrelated but irreducible levels of organization. If sustained, these data require revisions not only within the philosophy of science but also to standard views of consciousness, culture, and religion.

Tracing the past history and current definitions of the concept. Clayton makes the case for emergent phenomena in the natural world and their significance for philosophy and theology. Complex emergent systems give rise to distinct types of explanation in physics, chemistry, and biology. The irreducibility of living cells to biochemistry or of mental phenomena to brain states does not negate scientific inquiry. But it does cast doubt on the ideal of a single unitary science, a fundamental physics capable of explaining all natural phenomena. Clayton explores a variety of recent scientific developments that reveal the family resemblances of emergence, including autocatalytic processes, systems biology, evolutionary theory, and the neural correlates of consciousness.

This pattern of emergence supports a commonsense understanding of mind: thoughts and intentions really do have a causal influence, even though consciousness is an emergent property of the brain and remains dependent upon it. Recent neuroscientific studies provide new insight into the 'hard problem' of subjective mental experience, but only when they are wedded to first-person phenomenological studies and an adequate theory of agency.

Affirming mental causation raises some of the deepest philosophical questions: do we have minds, or only mental properties? Are minds purely natural, or could there also be transcendent mind? What light does a metaphysics of mind shed on the ultimate significance of our own mental experience?

Contents:

From reduction to emergence

Defining emergence

Emergence in the natural sciences

Emergence and mind

Emergence and transcendence.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [214]-229) and index.

ISBN:

0199272522

OCLC:

56319771