
Consciousness and Object
A mind-object identity physicalist theory
Riccardo Manzotti(Author)
John Benjamins Publishing Co
Published on 19. October 2017
Book
Hardback
254 pages
978-90-272-1362-4 (ISBN)
Description
What is the conscious mind? What is experience? In 1968, David Armstrong asked "What is a man?" and replied that a man is "a certain sort of material object". This book starts from his question but proceeds along a different path. The traditional mind-brain identity theory is set aside, and a mind-object identity theory is proposed in its place: to be conscious of an object is simply to be made of that object. Consciousness is physical but not neural.
This groundbreaking hypothesis is supported by recent empirical findings in both perception and neuroscience, and is herein tested against a series of objections of both conceptual and empirical nature: the traditional mind-brain identity arguments from illusion, hallucinations, dreams, and mental imagery. The theory is then compared with existing externalist approaches including disjunctivism, realism, embodied cognition, enactivism, and the extended mind. Can experience and objects be one and the same?
This groundbreaking hypothesis is supported by recent empirical findings in both perception and neuroscience, and is herein tested against a series of objections of both conceptual and empirical nature: the traditional mind-brain identity arguments from illusion, hallucinations, dreams, and mental imagery. The theory is then compared with existing externalist approaches including disjunctivism, realism, embodied cognition, enactivism, and the extended mind. Can experience and objects be one and the same?
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Amsterdam
Netherlands
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Weight
625 gr
ISBN-13
978-90-272-1362-4 (9789027213624)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Content
1. Foreword; 2. Acknowledgements; 3. Chapter 1. A materialist theory of the mind; 4. Chapter 2. Naive materialism; 5. Chapter 3. Consciousness and nature; 6. Chapter 4. A mind-object identity theory; 7. Chapter 5. The actual object; 8. Chapter 6. Mind, body, and world; 9. Chapter 7. All experience is identity; 10. Chapter 8. Neuroscientific evidence; 11. Chapter 9. Subjectivity reloaded; 12. Chapter 10. A reduction; 13. Chapter 11. A comparison with other views; 14. Chapter 12. The last blow to the narcissism of man; 15. Chapter 13. In a nutshell; 16. References; 17. Author Queries