Naturalism, Evolution, and Intentionality

Naturalism, Evolution, and Intentionality PDF

Author: Jillian Scott McIntosh

Publisher: Calgary : University of Calgary Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13:

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A collection of essays concerning the mind that explores the prospects for, and limits of, appealing to facts about evolutionary history and current environment-organism interaction in explaining the nature and workings of the mental. Includes papers in ethology, psychology, neuroscience. Each paper contributes to the discussion of what discoveries in this field can tell us about particular issues in the philosophy of mind. Some of the papers in this issue have had a high profile: Mel Goodale was recently on the CBC talking about how each of us has two types of vision (it was a fascinating piece that is not actually written by a philosopher ).

Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalism

Conceptual Analysis and Philosophical Naturalism PDF

Author: David Braddon-Mitchell

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 0262012561

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This volume shows how the so-called 'Canberra Plan' of metaphysical research continues to inspire (and provoke) some of the most interesting work in modern metaphysics.

Measuring the Intentional World

Measuring the Intentional World PDF

Author: J. D. Trout

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 302

ISBN-13: 0195166590

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Trout advances scientific realism as a behavioural science. He introduces measured realism which characterizes a kind of uneven but indisputable theoretical progress in the social and psychological sciences.

Phenomenal Intentionality

Phenomenal Intentionality PDF

Author: Uriah Kriegel

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2013-01-09

Total Pages: 271

ISBN-13: 0199720525

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Since the late 1970's, the main research program for understanding intentionality -- the mind's ability to direct itself onto the world -- has been based on the attempt naturalize intentionality, in the sense of making it intelligible how intentionality can occur in a perfectly natural, indeed entirely physical, world. Some philosophers, however, have remained skeptical of this entire approach. In particular, some have argued that phenomenal consciousness - - the subjective feel of conscious experience -- has an essential role to play in the theory of intentionality, a role missing in the naturalization program. Thus a number of authors have recently brought to the fore the notion of phenomenal intentionality, as well as a cluster of nearby notions. There is a vague sense that their work is interrelated, complementary, and mutually reinforcing, in a way that suggests a germinal research program. With twelve new essays by philosophers at the forefront of the field, this volume is designed to launch this research program in a more self-conscious way, by exploring some of the fundamental claims and themes of relevance to this program.

Naturalism

Naturalism PDF

Author: William Lane Craig

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2002-01-04

Total Pages: 303

ISBN-13: 113456452X

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Naturalism provides a rigorous analysis and critique of the major varieties of contemporary philosophical naturalism. The authors advocate the thesis that contemporary naturalism should be abandoned, in light of the serious objections raised against it. Contributors draw on a wide range of topics including: epistemology, the philosophy of science, the philosophy of mind and agency, and natural theology.

Explaining the Mental

Explaining the Mental PDF

Author: Michael Beaney

Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Published: 2009-03-26

Total Pages: 266

ISBN-13: 1443806536

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The aim of this collection of papers is to present different philosophical perspectives on the mental, exploring questions about how to define, explain and understand the various kinds of mental acts and processes, and exhibiting, in particular, the contrast between naturalistic and non-naturalistic approaches. There is a long tradition in philosophy of clarifying concepts such as those of thinking, knowing and believing. The task of clarifying these concepts has become ever more important with the major developments that have taken place over the last century in the human and cognitive sciences - most notably, psychology, sociology, linguistics, neurophysiology, AI, and cognitive science itself. In all these sciences, there is a need to delineate the domain of the mental and to elucidate the key concepts and underlying assumptions. This need is widely recognized, but approaches and answers vary significantly. Some stress the representational features involved in most of our mental processes, others the inferential dimension; some stress the necessity of using empirical data, others the need to refine ideas before pursuing and drawing on empirical research. The papers collected in this volume are grouped into four parts, on language and thought, on knowledge, belief and action, on intentionality, and on naturalism. The volume will be welcomed by all those engaged and interested in debates about the mental in philosophy and the human and cognitive sciences. Table of Contents PART I: LANGUAGE AND THOUGHT Andrew Woodfield, Public Words Considered as Vehicles of Thinking Andrea Bianchi, Speaking and Thinking (Or: A More Kaplanian Way to a Unified Account of Language and Thought) Stefano Predelli, The Strange Case of the Missing Constituent PART II: KNOWLEDGE, BELIEF AND ACTION Pascal Engel, Taking Seriously Knowledge as a Mental State Carlo Gabbani, Epistemology and the Eliminative Stance Jennifer Hornsby, Knowledge, Belief and Reasons for Acting Wolfgang Künne, Some Varieties of Deception PART III: INTENTIONALITY Sandro Nannini, Intentionality Naturalised Elisabetta Sacchi, Thought and Thinking: the Ontological Ground of Intentionality Elisabeth Pacherie, Is Collective Intentionality Really Primitive? PART IV: NATURALISM Marcello Frixione, Do Concepts exist? A Naturalistic Point of View Tim Crane, Cosmic Hermeneutics vs. Emergence: the Challenge of the Explanatory Gap Achim Stephan and Robert C. Richardson, What Physicalism Should Provide Us With Mario De Caro, The Claims of Naturalism

The Self

The Self PDF

Author: Jonardon Ganeri

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-04-26

Total Pages: 387

ISBN-13: 0199652368

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Jonardon Ganeri presents a ground-breaking study of selfhood, drawing on Indian theories of consciousness and mind. He explores the notion of embodiment and the centrality of the emotions to the self, and shows how to harmonize the idea of the first-person perspective with a naturalist worldview which encompasses the normative.

Relational Intentionality: Brentano and the Aristotelian Tradition

Relational Intentionality: Brentano and the Aristotelian Tradition PDF

Author: Hamid Taieb

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-12-28

Total Pages: 213

ISBN-13: 3319988875

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This book sheds new light on the history of the philosophically crucial notion of intentionality, which accounts for one of the most distinctive aspects of our mental life: the fact that our thoughts are about objects. Intentionality is often described as a certain kind of relation. Focusing on Franz Brentano, who introduced the notion into contemporary philosophy, and on the Aristotelian tradition, which was Brentano’s main source of inspiration, the book reveals a rich history of debate on precisely the relational nature of intentionality. It shows that Brentano and the Aristotelian authors from which he drew not only addressed the question whether intentionality is a relation, but also devoted extensive discussions to what kind of relation it is, if any. The book aims to show that Brentano distinguishes the intentional relation from two other relations with which it might be confused, namely, causality and reference, which also hold between thoughts and their objects. Intentionality accounts for the aboutness of a thought; causality, by contrast, explains how the thought is generated, and reference, understood as a sort of similarity, occurs when the object towards which the thought is directed exists. Brentano claims to find some anticipation of his views in Aristotle. This book argues that, whether or not Brentano’s interpretation of Aristotle is correct, his claim is true of the Aristotelian tradition as a whole, since followers of Aristotle more or less explicitly made some or all of Brentano’s distinctions. This is demonstrated through examination of some major figures of the Aristotelian tradition (broadly understood), including Alexander of Aphrodisias, the Neoplatonic commentators, Thomas Aquinas, Duns Scotus, and Francisco Suárez. This book combines a longue durée approach – focusing on the long-term evolution of philosophical concepts rather than restricting itself to a specific author or period – with systematic analysis in the history of philosophy. By studying Brentano and the Aristotelian authors with theoretical sensitivity, it also aims to contribute to our understanding of intentionality and cognate features of the mind.