Combining minds : how to think about composite subjectivity / by Luke Roelofs.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Roelofs, Luke, author.

Series:

Philosophy of mind series.

Philosophy of mind series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Panpsychism.

Subjectivity.

Consciousness.

Metaphysics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xvi, 336 pages)

Other Title:

How to think about composite subjectivity

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2019]

Summary:

This book explores a neglected philosophical question: How do groups of interacting minds relate to singular minds? Could several of us, by organizing ourselves the right way, constitute a single conscious mind that contains our minds as parts? And could each of us have been, all along, a group of mental parts in close cooperation? Scientific progress seems to be slowly revealing that all the different physical objects around us are, at root, just a matter of the right parts put together in the right ways: How far could the same be true of minds? This book argues that we are too used to seeing the mind as an indivisible unity and that understanding our place in nature requires being willing to see minds as composite systems, simultaneously one conscious whole and many conscious parts. In thinking through the implications of such a shift of perspective, the book relates the question of mental combination to a range of different theories of the mind (in particular panpsychism, functionalism, and Neo-Lockeanism about personal identity) and identifies, clarifies, and addresses a wide array of philosophical objections (concerning personal identity, the unity of consciousness, the privacy of experience, and other issues) that have been raised against the idea of composite minds. The result is an account of the metaphysics of composition and consciousness that can illuminate many different debates in philosophy of mind, concerning split brains, collective intentionality, and the combination problem, among others.--publisher.

Contents:

A universe of composite subjectivity

Conscious subjects, conscious unity, and five arguments for anti-combination

Composite subjectivity and microsubjects

The problems of structural discrepancy

Composite subjectivity and intelligent subjects

Composite subjectivity in organisms, organs, and organisations

Composite subjectivity and psychological subjects

What it is like for two to become one.

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Previously issued in print: 2019.

ISBN:

0-19-085907-5

0-19-085908-3

0-19-085906-7