beyond reduction philosophy of mind and post-reductionist philosophy of science aug 2007

[...]... Part I Naturalism and Reduction in Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Science 1 Varieties of Naturalism: What Is a Naturalistic Philosophy of Mind? 11 2 Reduction and Supervenience: The Contemporary Problematic in Philosophy of Mind, 23 3 The Demise of Reductionism in Philosophy of Science, 47 Part II Philosophy of Mind and Post-Reductionist Philosophy of Science 4 Reductionism and Eliminativism... them in the case of the mind, nor to hold the sciences of the mind in special suspicion because of their irreducibility Chapter 5 examines the prospects of dualism, and chapter 6 those of nonreductive materialism and Mysterianism I argue that each of these positions faces substantial problems in the wake of post-reductionist philosophy of science On the one hand, their acceptance of the explanatory... Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Science This page intentionally left blank 1 Varieties of Naturalism What Is a Naturalistic Philosophy of Mind? A casual observer of recent philosophy of mind would likely come to the conclusion that, amid all of the disagreements between the parties involved, there is at least one thing that stands as more or less a consensus view: the commitment to a philosophy of mind. .. rejects Normative naturalism in philosophy of mind and naturalistic philosophy of science make for poor bedfellows This is not simply an idle observation The pivotal chapters of this book address the changes that have occurred in philosophy of science over the past several decades and their implications for the philosophy of mind Much of the recent problematic in philosophy of mind has been shaped by assumptions... rethink the standard problems in philosophy of mind and to reevaluate all of the familiar philosophical accounts of the nature of the mind This page intentionally left blank 2 Reduction and Supervenience The Contemporary Problematic in Philosophy of Mind A great portion of the work done in philosophy of mind in recent years has been devoted to two broad questions The first of these is an epistemological... relevant sense of reduction , chemistry is not reducible to physics, and thermodynamics is not reducible to statistical mechanics Philosophy of mind at the turn of the millennium is, as it were, one of the last bastions of 1950s philosophy of science, and all parties to mainline debates about the nature of the mind err in making the assumptions (a) that the mind is unique in its irreducibility, and (b) that... book to explore the rhetorical line that, if post-reductionist philosophy of science has it right, then philosophers of mind need to do some fundamental rethinking My aspiration for this book is threefold First, I hope to bring philosophy of mind into closer dialogue with contemporary philosophy of science I think that, for a good number of philosophers of mind, this aim will prove congenial, even if... naturalistic approach to philosophy of science and at least one form of naturalism in philosophy of mind: namely, that which treats reducibility as a kind of norm used for testing the credentials of a special science like biology or psychology To adopt such a normative stance is to indulge in exactly the kind of application of extrascientific standards that the naturalistic philosopher of science rejects Normative... widespread in the natural sciences Part II then addresses the implications of post-reductionist philosophy of science for philosophy of mind by examining each of the familiar positions in turn Chapter 4 examines reductionism and eliminativism, which are clearly compromised by any abiding pluralism in the natural sciences If intertheoretic reductions are rare even in the natural sciences, there is little... serious rethinking in philosophy of mind In the course of this, some of the mainline contemporary problems in philosophy of mind are dissolved They are, of course, replaced by new problems, such as why the philosophical project of reductionism failed, and how we ought to reconceive the mind and its relation to the world of nature This book does not attempt a definitive resolution of these problems, but . of Reductionism in Philosophy of Science, 47 Part II Philosophy of Mind and Post-Reductionist Philosophy of Science 4. Reductionism and Eliminativism Reconsidered, 67 5. The Explanatory Gap and. ought philosophy of mind to learn from contemporary philosophy of science? (And, in its more pointed form, Why is contemporary philosophy of mind one of the last bastions of the philosophy of science. Philosophy of Mind and Philosophy of Science 1. Varieties of Naturalism: What Is a Naturalistic Philosophy of Mind? 11 2. Reduction and Supervenience: The Contemporary Problematic in Philosophy of Mind,