PHIL 101 Lecture : Ch_12_summary_The_Mind-Body_Problem_-_Alternatives_to_Dualism_.doc
Document Summary
Chapter 12 the mind-body problem - alternatives to dualism. The growth in influence and the popularisation of physical science has made the problem [of the mind] more urgent. The idea that science captures everything, except the centre of everyone"s universe, his own consciousness, makes a laughingstock of its claim to present a plausible world view. If science cannot encompass the subjective then subjectivity becomes a door through which mystical, irrational and religious notions can enter and reassert themselves against the modern metaphysic of scientific realism. Seen from the perspective of the last fifty years, the philosophy of mind, as well as cognitive science and certain branches of psychology, present a curious spectacle. The most striking feature is how much of mainstream philosophy of mind of the past fifty years seems obviously false. 12. 1 varieties of reductive and nonreductive physicalism reductive philosophical type-type identity behaviorism.
