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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.
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.
Context and the Attitudes collects thirteen seminal essays by Mark
Richard on semantics and propositional attitudes. These essays
develop a nuanced account of the semantics and pragmatics of our
talk about such attitudes, an account on which in saying what
someone thinks, we offer our words as a 'translation' or
representation of the way the target of our talk represents the
world. A broad range of topics in philosophical semantics and the
philosophy of mind are discussed in detail, including: contextual
sensitivity; pretense and semantics; negative existentials;
fictional discourse; the nature of quantification; the role of
Fregean sense in semantics; 'direct reference' semantics; de re
belief and the contingent a priori; belief de se; intensional
transitives; the cognitive role of tense; and the prospects for
giving a semantics for the attitudes without recourse to properties
or possible worlds. Richard's extensive, newly written introduction
gives an overview of the essays. The introduction also discusses
attitudes realized by dispositions and other non-linguistic
cognitive structures, as well as the debate between those who think
that mental and linguistic content is structured like the sentences
that express it, and those who see content as essentially
unstructured.
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 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.
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.
How does mind fit into nature? Philosophy has long been concerned
with this question. No contemporary philosopher has done more to
clarify it than Jaegwon Kim, a distinguished analytic philosopher
specializing in metaphysics and philosophy of mind. With new
contributions from an outstanding line-up of eminent scholars, this
volume focuses on issues raised in Kim's work. The chapters cluster
around two themes: first, exclusion, supervenience, and reduction,
with attention to the causal exclusion argument for which Kim is
widely celebrated; and second, phenomenal consciousness and qualia,
with attention to the prospects for a functionalist account of the
mental. This volume is sure to become a major focus of attention
and research in the disciplines of metaphysics and philosophy of
mind.
Listen. Hear your deepest longings, triumphs and
trials in these ancient tales of the human experience.
Journey through these fascinating stories and you will see how
myths and tales retold from many cultures bring universal themes
from love and life, fears and foibles, straight into your
heart.
From the learned housekeeper who imparts her wisdom on the
importance of listening, to a juggler who shows that gifts from the
heart are truly the best of all, these stories offer timeless
insight and inspiration. They will allow you to connect with the
strength and value of your own myths and tales.
Drawn from many cultures and faith traditions including Irish,
Scottish, English, European, Asian, Indian and Middle Eastern each
retelling illustrates the healing and powerful connection that
stretches across the globe and unites us all in an embrace of
wisdom through words. You will see your own struggles and successes
mirrored in the lives of the characters contained in these pages:
As you travel through their stories, you will hear a gentle voice
urging you to tap into your own endless power and potential.
In A Theory of Environmental Leadership, Mark Manolopoulos draws on
his original model of leading outlined in his cutting-edge book
Following Reason to derive and develop the first properly
systematic model of eco-leadership. Suppose humanity's relation
with the Earth may be described in terms of leadership "stages" or
modalities: once upon a time, the Earth led or ruled humanity, and
now we humans rule or lead the Earth. When the Earth led, the Earth
flourished; now that humankind leads, the Earth flounders -
ecological crises multiply and intensify. However, there might be a
third stage or modality of leadership: humanity leading for the
Earth, leading in a way that allows the world, including humans, to
re-flourish. What would be the nature of this truly environmental
form of leadership? A Theory of Environmental Leadership identifies
and critically analyzes the two basic and incompatible positions
associated with the way we construe and interact with the
non-human: anthropocentrism (human supremacism) and ecocentrism
(ecological egalitarianism). By rigorously analyzing and leveraging
this polarity, this book outlines an innovative theory of
eco-leadership together with some of its confronting-but-necessary
measures. Expansive and incredibly timely, A Theory of
Environmental Leadership is ideal for a range of audiences, from
scholars and students of environmental leadership studies to
activists and policymakers. The book's remarkable clarity and
engaging character also makes it suitable for the general public.
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.
The relationship between mind and matter, mental states and
physical states, has occupied the attention of philosophers for
thousands of years. Richard Fumerton's primary concern is the
knowledge argument for dualism - an argument that proceeds from the
idea that we can know truths about our existence and our mental
states without knowing any truths about the physical world. This
view has come under relentless criticism, but here Fumerton makes a
powerful case for its rehabilitation, demonstrating clearly the
importance of its interconnections with a wide range of other
controversies within philosophy. Fumerton analyzes philosophical
views about the nature of thought and the relation of those views
to arguments for dualism, and investigates the connection between a
traditional form of foundationalism about knowledge, and a
foundationalist view about thought that underlies traditional
arguments for dualism. His book will be of great interest to those
studying epistemology and the philosophy of mind.
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