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Books > Humanities > Philosophy > Topics in philosophy > Philosophy of mind
Experimental philosophy has blossomed into a variety of
philosophical fields including ethics, epistemology, metaphysics
and philosophy of language. But there has been very little
experimental philosophical research in the domain of philosophy of
religion. Advances in Religion, Cognitive Science, and Experimental
Philosophy demonstrates how cognitive science of religion has the
methodological and conceptual resources to become a form of
experimental philosophy of religion. Addressing a wide variety of
empirical claims that are of interest to philosophers and
psychologists of religion, a team of psychologists and philosophers
apply data from the psychology of religion to important problems in
the philosophy of religion including the psychology of religious
diversity; the psychology of substance dualism; the problem of evil
and the relation between religious belief and empathy; and the
cognitive science explaining the formation of intuitions that
unwittingly guide philosophers of religion when formulating
arguments. Bringing together authors and researchers who have made
important contributions to interdisciplinary research on religion
in the last decade, Advances in Religion, Cognitive Science, and
Experimental Philosophy provides new ways of approaching core
philosophical and psychological problems.
There is a growing literature in neuroethics dealing with cognitive
neuro-enhancement for healthy adults. However, discussions on this
topic tend to focus on abstract theoretical positions while
concrete policy proposals and detailed models are scarce.
Furthermore, discussions appear to rely solely on data from the US
or UK, while international perspectives are mostly non-existent.
This volume fills this gap and addresses issues on cognitive
enhancement comprehensively in three important ways: 1) it examines
the conceptual implications stemming from competing points of view
about the nature and goals of enhancement; 2) it addresses the
ethical, social, and legal implications of neuroenhancement from an
international and global perspective including contributions from
scholars in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and
South America; and 3) it discusses and analyzes concrete legal
issues and policy options tailored to specific contexts.
Fusing speculative realism, analytical and linguistic philosophy
this book theorises the fundamental impact the experience of
reading has on us. In reading, language provides us with a world
and meaning becomes perceptible. We can connect with another
subjectivity, another place, another time. At its most extreme,
reading changes our understanding of the world around us. Metanoia-
meaning literally a change of mind or a conversion-refers to this
kind of new way of seeing. To see the world in a new light is to
accept that our thinking has been irrevocably transformed. How is
that possible? And is it merely an intellectual process without any
impact on the world outside our brains? Innovatively tackling these
questions, this book mobilizes discussions from linguistics,
literary theory, philosophy of language, and cognitive science. It
re-articulates linguistic consciousness by underlining the poetic,
creative moment of language and sheds light on the ability of
language to transform not only our thinking but the world around us
as well.
This book applies the formal discipline of logic to everyday
discourse. It offers a new analysis of the notion of individual,
suggesting that this notion is linguistic, not ontological, and
that anything denoted by a proper name in a well-functioning
language game is an individual. It further posits that everyday
discourse is non-compositional, i.e., its complex expressions are
not just the result of putting simpler ones together but react on
the latter, modifying their meaning through feedback. The book
theorizes that in everyday discourse, there is no algebra of truth
values, but the latter can be both input and output of something
which has no truth value at all. It suggests that an elementary
proposition of everyday discourse (defined as having exactly one
predicate) can, in principle, be indefinitely expanded by adding
new components, belonging neither to subject nor to predicate, but
remain elementary. This book is of interest to logicians and
philosophers of language.
Why care about intellectual humility? What is an intellectual
virtue? How do we know who is intellectually humble? The nature of
intellectual virtues is a topic of ancient interest. But
contemporary philosophy has experienced unparalleled energy and
concern for one particular virtue over the past 30 years:
intellectual humility. Intellectual Humility: An Introduction to
the Philosophy and Science draws on leading research to provide an
engaging and up-to-date guide to understanding what it is and why
it's important. By using ten big questions to introduce the
concept, this introduction presents a vibrant account of the ideas
behind intellectual humility. Covering themes from philosophy,
psychology, education, social science, and divinity, it addresses
issues such as: What human cognition tells us about intellectual
virtues The extent to which traits and dispositions are stable from
birth or learned habits How emotions affect our ability to be
intellectually humble The best way to handle disagreement The
impact intellectual humility has on religion or theological
commitments Written for students taking the University of
Edinburgh's online course, this textbook is for anyone interested
in finding out more about intellectual humility, how it can be
developed and where it can be applied.
The development of cognitive models is a key step in the
challenging research program to advance our understanding of human
cognition and behavior. Dynamical models represent a general and
flexible approach to cognitive modeling. This introduction focuses
on applications of stochastic processes and dynamical systems to
model cognition. The dynamical approach is particularly useful to
emphasize the strong link between experimental research (and its
paradigms), data analysis, and mathematical models including their
computer implementation for numerical simulation. Most of specific
examples are from the domain of eye movement research, with
concepts being applicable to a broad range of problems in cognitive
modeling. The textbook aims at the graduate and/or advanced
undergraduate level for students in Cognitive Science and related
disciplines such as Psychology and Computer Science. Joint
introduction of the theory of cognitive processes and mathematical
models, their underlying mathematical concepts, numerical
simulation, and analysis; The focus on eye movements provide a
theoretically coherent, but very general application area; Computer
code in R Programming Language for Statistical Computing is
available for all examples, figures, and solutions to exercises.
The problem of free will arises from ordinary, commonsense
reflection. Shaun Nichols examines these ordinary attitudes from a
naturalistic perspective. He offers a psychological account of the
origins of the problem of free will. According to his account the
problem arises because of two naturally emerging ways of thinking
about ourselves and the world, one of which makes determinism
plausible while the other makes determinism implausible. Although
contemporary cognitive science does not settle whether choices are
determined, Nichols argues that our belief in indeterminist choice
is grounded in faulty inference and should be regarded as
unjustified. However, even if our belief in indeterminist choice is
false, it's a further substantive question whether that means that
free will doesn't exist. Nichols argues that, because of the
flexibility of reference, there is no single answer to whether free
will exists. In some contexts, it will be true to say 'free will
exists'; in other contexts, it will be false to say that. With this
substantive background in place, Bound promotes a pragmatic
approach to prescriptive issues. In some contexts, the prevailing
practical considerations suggest that we should deny the existence
of free will and moral responsibility; in other contexts the
practical considerations suggest that we should affirm free will
and moral responsibility. This allows for the possibility that in
some contexts, it is morally apt to exact retributive punishment;
in other contexts, it can be apt to take up the exonerating
attitude of hard incompatibilism.
The book offers an elucidation of two of the most important themes
in Martin Heidegger's early as well as later philosophical
writings. These perennial themes of his thought, namely, the
concept of the world and his existential analysis of death, are
explored as the ongoing philosophical problems grappled by this
important thinker of the twentieth century within all periods of
the body of his entire work. These themes are closely related to
the fundamental issue of Heidegger's thought namely the question
concerning the meaning of Being for which a proper elucidation of
the world-concept and death is absolutely crucial. Since this book
considers all the important phases of Heidegger's thought along
with all the important ongoing conceptual preoccupations of this
thinker along with his original analyses of human existence and the
world, the notion of the ground, art and artworks, language,
dwelling, and death, it can serve as a substantive introduction to
the philosophy of Martin Heidegger.
This book offers a new perspective on the motherhood experience.
Drawing on existential philosophy and recent phenomenological
research into motherhood, the book demonstrates how motherhood can
be understood as an existential crisis. It argues that an awareness
of the existential issues women face will enable mothers to gain a
deeper understanding of the multifaceted aspects of their
experience. The book is divided into four sections: Existential
Crisis, Maternal Mental Health Crisis, Social Crisis and Working
with Existential Crisis, where each section. Each chapter is based
on either experiential research or the author's extensive
therapeutic experience of working with mothers and reflects
different aspects of the motherhood journey, all through the lens
of a philosophical existential approach. The book is essential
reading for mental health practitioners and researchers working
with mothers, midwives and health visitors, but it is also written
for mothers, with the aim to offer new insights on this important
life transition.
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