Objections to Physicalism - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198236778 ISBN 13: 9780198236771

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA, 1997

Synopsis

Physicalism has, over the past twenty years, become almost an orthodoxy, especially in the philosophy of mind. Many philosophers, however, feel uneasy about this development, and this volume is intended as a collective response to it. Together these papers, written by philosophers from Britain, the United States, and Australasia, show that physicalism faces enormous problems in every area in which it is discussed. The contributors not only investigate the well-known difficulties that physicalism has in accommodating sensory consciousness, but also bring out its inadequacies in dealing with thought, intentionality, abstract objects, (such as numbers), and principles of both theoretical and practical reason; even its ability to cope with the physical world itself is called into question. Both strong "reductionist" versions and weaker "supervenience" theories are discussed and found to face different but equally formidable obstacles. Contributors include George Bealer, Peter Forrest, John Foster, Grant Gillett, Bob Hale, Michael Lockwood, George Myro, Nicholas Nathan, David Smith, Steven Wagner, Ralph Walker, and Richard Warner.

About this title

About the Author

Howard Robinson is Soros Professor of Philosophy at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, and Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of Liverpool. He is author of Matter and Sense (CUP, 1982) and Perception (Routledge, 1994), editor of George Berkeley's Principles of Human Knowledge and Three Dialogues in the World's Classics series (OUP 1996), and co-editor of the following volumes: Essays on Berkeley (OUP, 1985), The Pursuit of Mind (Carcanet, 1991), and Aristotle and the Later Tradition (OUP, 1991).

From the Back Cover

Physicalism has in recent years become almost an orthodoxy, especially in the philosophy of mind. Many philosophers, however, feel uneasy about this development, and this volume is intended as a collective response to it. Together these papers, written by philosophers from Britain, the USA, and Australasia, show that physicalism faces enormous problems in every area in which it is discussed.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0198236778
• ISBN 13: 9780198236771
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 332
• Editor: Robinson Howard