PHILO-120 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Daniel Dennett, Paul Churchland, Phlogiston Theory
24 Aug 2020
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Metaphor form daniel dennett (1995); darwin"s dangerous idea: evolution and the meaning of life. Conservative: an understanding of a phenomenon is replaced with a different understanding. Yet the original properties explained by the first understanding are retained (example: temperature = mean kinetic energy) Eliminative: an understanding of a phenomenon is replaced with a different understanding that shows the phenomenon is an illusion (example: phlogiston theory replaced with the idea of multiple gaseous elements) Monism: everything can be reduced to one type of substance. Proposed types of substances: only physical processes and properties exist. View on reductionism: eliminative reduction: mental experience is ultimately explainable as brain events. Casual influence: only the material exists so everything is property of a physical process or system. Proposed types of substances: only one kind of matter exists and it is mental. View on reductionism: minds are the fundamental stuff of the universe. Proponents: george berkley, carl jung, gustav fechmer, a. n.
