Matter and consciousness / Paul M. Churchland.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Churchland, Paul M., 1942-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Philosophy of mind.

Intellect.

Consciousness.

Cognition.

Artificial intelligence.

Neurology.

Physical Description:

xii, 288 pages ; 21 cm

Edition:

Third edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Massachusetts : MIT Press, [2013]

Summary:

In Matter and Consciousness, Paul Churchland presents a concise and contemporary overview of the philosophical issues surrounding the mind and explains the main theories and philosophical positions that have been proposed to solve them. Making the case for the relevance of theoretical and experimental results in neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence for the philosophy of mind, Churchland reviews current developments in the cognitive sciences and offers a clear and accessible account of the connections to philosophy of mind. For this third edition, the text has been updated and revised throughout. The changes range from references to the iPhone's "Siri" to expanded discussions of the work of such contemporary philosophers as David Chalmers, John Searle, and Thomas Nagel. Churchland describes new research in evolution, genetics, and visual neuroscience, among other areas, arguing that the philosophical significance of these new findings lies in the support they tend to give to the reductive and eliminative versions of materialism. Matter and Consciousness, written by the most distinguished theorist and commentator in the field, offers an authoritative summary and sourcebook for issues in philosophy of mind. It is suitable for use as an introductory undergraduate text. Book jacket.

Contents:

1 What Is This Book About? 1

2 The Ontological Problem (the Mind-Body Problem) 11

1 Dualism 11

2 Philosophical Behaviorism 36

3 Reductive Materialism (the Identity Theory) 40

4 Functionalism 63

5 Eliminative Materialism 73

3 The Semantical Problem 87

1 Definition by Inner Ostension 87

2 Philosophical Behaviorism 91

3 The Theoretical Network Thesis and Folk Psychology 93

4 Intentionality and the Propositional Attitudes 103

4 The Epistemological Problem 111

1 The Problem of Other Minds 111

2 The Problem of Self-Consciousness 119

5 The Methodological Problem 135

1 Idealism and Phenomenology 135

2 Methodological Behaviorism 142

3 The Cognitive/Computational Approach 147

4 Methodological Materialism 153

6 Artificial Intelligence 157

1 Computers: Some Elementary Concepts 160

2 Programming Intelligence: The Piecemeal Approach 167

7 Neuroscience 191

1 Neuroanatomy: The Evolutionary Background 191

2 Neurophysiology and Neural Organization 201

3 Neuropsychology 221

4 Cognitive Neurobiology 226

5 Al Again: Computer Models of Parallel Distributed Processing 241

8 Expanding Our Perspective 261

1 The Distribution of Intelligence in the Universe 261

2 The Expansion of Introspective Consciousness 278.

Notes:

"A Bradford book."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Other Format:

Online version: Churchland, Paul M., 1942- Matter and consciousness.

ISBN:

9780262519588

0262519585

OCLC:

827722868