Danger. 35 hundred words of philosophizing headed your way. I’m going to discuss the relationship between two philosophical issues: the mind-body problem on the one hand, and the existence of a God (in a sense that we will try to limn out as we move along) on the other. My point? We can understand the relationship between mind and body as quite analogous to the relationship between God and cosmos. Furthermore, this parallel applies to, and helps us understand, a wide range of views about what the mind is. The mind-body problem, as I understand it, breaks down into at least three parts. First, is it feasible to describe human behavior fully in physicalist/mechanical terms? Second, if it is NOT feasible, and we add another element to the description of humanity which we call ‘mind’ -- how should we conceive of that second element? Third, if we do add this extra element, do we believe that mind and body interact? How are we to understand THAT? These three inquirie...
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In 2008, Acta Analytica, which describes itself as an "international periodical for philosophy in the analytical tradition" ran a piece by Hilla Jacobson-Horowitz and Amir Horowitz called "Conceivability, Higher Order Patterns, and Physicalism." It is a contribution to the philosophy of the mind that argues that physicalism (roughly what used to be called "materialism") is a coherent plausible view and survives the so-called zombie argument. So ... what's the zombie argument? It is roughly this: 1. Physicalism suggests that the phenomenal properties of mind (the specific sensation of "seeing blue" and knowing that one sees blue for example) are fully necessitated and determined by the physical properties of the body, especially of the brain. 2. The "zombies" we are asked to imagine are beings in every other respect like ourselves, every material/physical respect, yet who lack these phenomenal properties. Their bodies ma...
Four recent or forthcoming books that may deserve the attention of some of the readers of this blog, below. 1. AFRICA, EMPIRE, AND FLEET STREET, by Jonathan Derrick. Published by Oxford University Press, this is the story of Albert Cartwright, an anti-colonialist, and the newspaper he ran for decades, the London based WEST AFRICA MAGAZINE. 2. WHITE SHOE, by John Oller, published by Dutton. This one is forthcoming -- March 2019. It tells the story of the Wall Street lawyers of the end of the 19th century and the early 20th who created what are still considered the establishment (or "white shoe") law firms in that vicinity to this day. 3. CONSCIOUSNESS AND PHYSICALISM, by Andreas Elpidorou and Guy Dove. Published by Routledge. "Physicalism" in the philosophy of mind is roughly what used to be known as "materialism." These authors think it should be regarded not as a dogma but as a research program, and that it is a sensible program. A reviewer in the...