Natural Minds (Bradford Books)
Publisher: The MIT Press; MIT Press
Published: February 1, 2004
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 322
ISBN-13: 9780262162210
Subjects: Cognition & cognitive psychology; States of consciousness; Philosophy; Medical; Mind & Body; Psychology & Psychiatry / Cognitive Psychology; Mind-brain identity theory
First sentence: Questions about minds are as ancient as any in philosophy.
Description: "In Natural Minds Thomas Polger advocates, and defends, the philosophical theory that mind equals brain - that sensations are brain processes - and in doing so brings the mind-brain identity theory back into the philosophical debate about consciousness. The version of identity theory that Polger advocates holds that conscious processes, events, states, or properties are type-identical to biological processes, events, states, or properties - a "tough-minded" account that maintains that minds are necessarily indentical to brains, a position held by few current identity theorists. Polger's approach to what William James called the "great blooming buzzing confusion" of consciousness begins with the idea that we need to know more about brains in order to understand consciousness fully, but recognizes that biology alone cannot provide the entire explanation. Natural Minds takes on issues from philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, and metaphysics, moving freely among them in its discussion."--Jacket.