Epiphenomenal Mind

Epiphenomenal Mind
Author: William S. Robinson
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 334
Release: 2018-10-26
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 0429787707

According to epiphenomenalism, our behavior is caused by events in our brains that also cause our mentality. This resulting mentality reflects our brains’ organization, but does not in turn cause anything. This book defends an epiphenomenalist account of philosophy of mind. It builds on the author’s previous work by moving beyond a discussion of sensations to apply an epiphenomenalist outlook to other aspects of mental causation such as beliefs, desires, pleasure, and displeasure. The first four chapters of the book argue for a dualistic theory of sensations and develop an epiphenomenalist version of dualism. The remaining chapters discuss propositional attitudes and valence. The author also responds to potential objections to epiphenomenalism by considering how sensations, intelligence, or understanding might be built into a robot. This book will be of interest to scholars and students in philosophy of mind who are interested in consciousness, mental causation, and how our mentality is situated in the world.

The Philosophy of Logical Atomism

The Philosophy of Logical Atomism
Author: Landon D. C. Elkind
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 358
Release: 2018-12-11
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 3319943642

This book offers a comprehensive critical survey of issues of historical interpretation and evaluation in Bertrand Russell's 1918 logical atomism lectures and logical atomism itself. These lectures record the culmination of Russell's thought in response to discussions with Wittgenstein on the nature of judgement and philosophy of logic and with Moore and other philosophical realists about epistemology and ontological atomism, and to Whitehead and Russell’s novel extension of revolutionary nineteenth-century work in mathematics and logic. Russell's logical atomism lectures have had a lasting impact on analytic philosophy and on Russell's contemporaries including Carnap, Ramsey, Stebbing, and Wittgenstein. Comprised of 14 original essays, this book will demonstrate how the direct and indirect influence of these lectures thus runs deep and wide.

Philosophy of Computer Science

Philosophy of Computer Science
Author: William J. Rapaport
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 534
Release: 2023-01-16
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1119891922

A unique resource exploring the nature of computers and computing, and their relationships to the world. Philosophy of Computer Science is a university-level textbook designed to guide readers through an array of topics at the intersection of philosophy and computer science. Accessible to students from either discipline, or complete beginners to both, the text brings readers up to speed on a conversation about these issues, so that they can read the literature for themselves, form their own reasoned opinions, and become part of the conversation by contributing their own views. Written by a highly qualified author in the field, the book looks at some of the central questions in the philosophy of computer science, including: What is philosophy? (for readers who might be unfamiliar with it) What is computer science and its relationship to science and to engineering? What are computers, computing, algorithms, and programs?(Includes a line-by-line reading of portions of Turing’s classic 1936 paper that introduced Turing Machines, as well as discussion of the Church-Turing Computability Thesis and hypercomputation challenges to it) How do computers and computation relate to the physical world? What is artificial intelligence, and should we build AIs? Should we trust decisions made by computers? A companion website contains annotated suggestions for further reading and an instructor’s manual. Philosophy of Computer Science is a must-have for philosophy students, computer scientists, and general readers who want to think philosophically about computer science.

The Catholic Reception of Continental Philosophy in North America

The Catholic Reception of Continental Philosophy in North America
Author: Gregory P. Floyd
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 346
Release: 2020-01-29
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1487534299

This volume by leading philosophers and theologians explores the reception of continental philosophy in North America and its ongoing relation to Catholic institutions. What has prompted so many North American Catholics to support this particular school of thought? Why do so many Catholics continue to find continental philosophy attractive, and why do so many continental philosophers work in Catholic departments? The establishment of the relationship between continental philosophy and Catholicism was not obvious, nor was it easy. Many of the contributors to this volume have played important roles in its development, and in these pages they take a stance on this evolving relationship and demonstrate that the engagement is far from over. Exploring the mutual interests that made this alliance possible as well as the underlying tensions, the volume provides, for the first time, an extended reflection on the historical, institutional, and intellectual relationship between Catholicism and continental philosophy on North American soil up to the present day.

Consolationism and Comparative African Philosophy

Consolationism and Comparative African Philosophy
Author: Ada Agada
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 235
Release: 2021-11-18
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1000476553

In a major challenge to African philosophy, this book demonstrates the importance of the universalisation question for every committed African philosopher. Rooted in Africa’s colonial legacy, the universalisation question challenges the African thinker to show how authentically African philosophical concepts and phenomena can be universally applicable in a globalising world. In this highly original book, the author inserts the philosophy of consolationism into African philosophical discourse, constructing a unique philosophical system that is at once African and universally relevant. The book engages major African and Western philosophers of diverse ideological leanings in a compelling dialogue that announces the future of world philosophy as one of interculturality, in which a common philosophical horizon is forged out of the cultural diversities of the world for the edification of humanity in a continually changing world. This book will be an important read for researchers in the fields of African Studies, intercultural philosophy, philosophy of mind, and existentialism.

UGC NET Political Science Paper II Chapter Wise Note Book | Complete Preparation Guide

UGC NET Political Science Paper II Chapter Wise Note Book | Complete Preparation Guide
Author: EduGorilla Prep Experts
Publisher: EduGorilla
Total Pages: 1820
Release: 2022-09-15
Genre: Education
ISBN:

• Best Selling Book in English Edition for UGC NET Political Science Paper II Exam with objective-type questions as per the latest syllabus given by the NTA . • Increase your chances of selection by 16X. • UGC NET Political Science Paper II Kit comes with well-structured Content & Chapter wise Practice Tests for your self evaluation • Clear exam with good grades using thoroughly Researched Content by experts.

Modern French Philosophy

Modern French Philosophy
Author: Robert Wicks
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 357
Release: 2013-10-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1780744560

This is a thorough and balanced guide to modern French philosophical thought, providing lucid, authoritative accounts of famous philosophers whilst also highlighting lesser-known figures. Author Robert Wicks introduces the major works of each philosopher, explaining their impact on their peers and on the wider world. Covering such major movements as Existentialism, Surrealism, Structuralism and Postmodernism, this handbook is a useful resource for Francophiles, students of philosophy and all those interested in the intellectual landscape of 20th- and 21st-century France. The book includes detailed coverage of such philosophers as Henri Bergson, Beauvoir, Sarte, Camus, Barthes, Derrida, Foucault, Deleuze and Levi-Strauss, among others.

The Philosophical Influences of Mao Zedong

The Philosophical Influences of Mao Zedong
Author: Robert Elliott Allinson
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 257
Release: 2019-09-19
Genre: History
ISBN: 1350059870

This philosophical Mao is a fresh portrait of the mind of the ruler who changed the face of China in the twentieth century. The book traces the influences of both traditional Chinese and traditional pre-Marxist Western philosophy on the early Mao and how these influences guided the development of his thought. It reveals evidence of the creative dimensions of Mao's thinking and how he wove the yin/yang pattern of change depicted in the Yijing, the Chinese Book of Changes, into the Marxist dialectic to bring ancient Chinese philosophy to mark changes in twentieth century thought. Mao's lifetime philosophical journey includes his interpretations of and comments on both Chinese and Western philosophers. His deep, metaphysical reflections, uncanny prognostications and pensive speculations from his early pre-Marxist period to his later philosophical years prove to be as startling as they are thought-provoking.

Continuity and Change in the Development of Russell’s Philosophy

Continuity and Change in the Development of Russell’s Philosophy
Author: P.J. Hager
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 208
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 9401108447

The general view of Russell's work amongst philosophers has been that repeat edly, during his long and distinguished career, crucial changes of mind on fun damental points were significant enough to cause him to successively adopt a diversity of radically new philosophical positions. Thus Russell is seen to have embraced and then abandoned, amongst others, neo-Hegelianism, Platonic re alism, phenomenalism and logical atomism, before settling finally on a form of neutral monism that philosophers have generally found to be incredible. This view of Russell is captured in C. D. Broad's famous remark that "Mr. Russell pro duces a different system of philosophy every few years . . . " (Muirhead, 1924: 79). Reflecting this picture of Russell continually changing his position, books and papers on Russell's philosophy have typically belonged to one of two kinds. Either they have concentrated on particular periods of his thought that are taken to be especially significant, or, accepting the view of his successive conversion to dis tinctly different philosophical positions, they have provided some account of each of these supposedly disconnected periods of his thought. While much good work has been done on Russell's philosophy, this framework has had its limitations, the main one being that it conceals the basic continuity behind his thought.