Armstrong's Materialist Theory of Mind

Armstrong's Materialist Theory of Mind
Author: Peter R. Anstey
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 277
Release: 2021-12-23
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0192843729

A Materialist Theory of Mind (1968) by David Armstrong is one of a handful of texts that began the physicalist revolution in the philosophy of mind. It is perhaps the most influential book in the field of the second half of the twentieth century. In this volume a distinguished international team of philosophers examine what we still owe to Armstrong's theory, and how to expand it, as well as looking back on how it came about. The first four chapters are historical in orientation, exploring how the book fits into the history of materialism in the twentieth century. The chapters that follow discuss perception, belief, the supposed explanatory gap between the physical and the mental, introspection, conation, causality, and functionalism.

A Materialist Theory of the Mind

A Materialist Theory of the Mind
Author: D.M. Armstrong
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 311
Release: 2002-09-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1134856342

Breaking new ground in the debate about the relation of mind and body, David Armstrong's classic text - first published in 1968 - remains the most compelling and comprehensive statement of the view that the mind is material or physical. In the preface to this new edition, the author reflects on the book's impact and considers it in the light of subsequent developments. He also provides a bibliography of all the key writings to have appeared in the materialist debate.

David Armstrong's Materialist Theory of Mind

David Armstrong's Materialist Theory of Mind
Author: Peter R. Anstey
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2022
Genre: Materialism
ISBN: 9780191926334

'A Materialist Theory of Mind' (1968) by David Armstrong is one of a handful of texts that began the physicalist revolution in the philosophy of mind. It is perhaps the most influential book in the field of the second half of the twentieth century. In this volume a distinguished international team of philosophers examine what we still owe to Armstrong's theory, and how to expand it, as well as looking back on how it came about.

Mind and Cosmos

Mind and Cosmos
Author: Thomas Nagel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 141
Release: 2012-11-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0199919755

The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.

Qualia and Mental Causation in a Physical World

Qualia and Mental Causation in a Physical World
Author: Terry Horgan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2015-03-05
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1107077834

A collection of new essays that develop themes from the work of the philosopher Jaegwon Kim.

Contemporary Materialism

Contemporary Materialism
Author: Paul K. Moser
Publisher: Psychology Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 1995
Genre: Materialism
ISBN: 9780415108638

Contemporary Materialismpresents an important collection of recent work on materialism in connection with metaphysics, philosophy of language, philosophy of mind and theories of value. This anthology charts the contemporary problems, positions and themes on the topic of materialism. It illuminates materialism's complex intersection with related subjects such as cognition and psychology. By gathering a wide-range of philosophical interventions around the subject of materialism, this anthology provides a valuable discussion of how materialism can effectively serve the purposes of philosophical assessment. To further assist the reader, it also contains an extensive bibliography on contemporary materialism.

Perception and the Physical World

Perception and the Physical World
Author: D M Armstrong
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 256
Release: 2023-07-28
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 100090086X

First published in 1961, Perception and the Physical World contends that there are insuperable difficulties for the Representative and Phenomenalist theories. Unreflective common sense thinks of sense-perception as a direct grasping of the nature of the physical world. But when we are confronted with facts about sensory illusion, about the physical and physiological causes of perception, and with modern scientific views of the real nature of matter, it is hard to maintain such a ‘Direct Realist’ theory of perception. We tend to substitute a Copy or Representative theory which puts sense-impressions between ourselves and physical reality. Some philosophers overwhelmed by the difficulties of the Copy theory, retreat into Phenomenalism, which identifies the physical world with our sense-impressions. The author re-examines all the traditional objections to a Direct Realist theory and tries to show that they can be overcome. This book will be of interest to students of philosophy.

Truth and Truthmakers

Truth and Truthmakers
Author: D. M. Armstrong
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 174
Release: 2004-05-27
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9780521547239

This book, first published in 2004, makes a compelling case for truthmaking and its importance in philosophy.

Materialism

Materialism
Author: Richard C. Vitzthum
Publisher:
Total Pages: 256
Release: 1995
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN:

This well-researched study traces the materialist hypothesis that all existence is an unbroken, material continuum from its origins in ancient Greece to modern times. Starting with Lucretius' great first-century-BC poem, The Nature of Things, it proceeds through Enlightenment materialism and Paul d'Holbach's masterpiece, The System of Nature, to 19th century materialism and Ludwig Buechner's epochal Force and Matter. It concludes by examining the 20th century literature of mind-brain materialism. Addressed to specialists and general readers alike, Vitzthum's interdisciplinary approach avoids technical jargon as it critically reviews the premises and literature of materialism from philosophical, historical, scientific, and literary perspectives.