Single Idea 20656

[catalogued under 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 1. Physical Mind]

Full Idea

One development in particular in the 1950s helped to discredit the traditional concept of the mind. This was medical drugs that influenced the workings of the brain.

Gist of Idea

Traditional ideas of the mind were weakened in the 1950s by mind-influencing drugs

Source

Peter Watson (Convergence [2016], 16 'Intro')

Book Reference

Watson,Peter: 'Convergence' [Simon and Schuster 2016], p.373


A Reaction

This explains Ryle's 1949 book, and the Australian physicalists emerging in the late 1950s. Philosophers don't grasp how their subject is responsive to other areas of human knowledge. Of course, opium had always done this.