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Single Idea 3989
[filed under theme 17. Mind and Body / E. Mind as Physical / 2. Reduction of Mind
]
Full Idea
My reductionism about mind began as part of an a priori reductionism about everything.
Clarification
Here, 'reductionism' means explaining everything in physical terms
Gist of Idea
I am a reductionist about mind because I am an a priori reductionist about everything
Source
David Lewis (Lewis: reduction of mind (on himself) [1994], p.412)
Book Ref
'A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind', ed/tr. Guttenplan,Samuel [Blackwell 1995], p.412
A Reaction
He says this is 'a priori' to avoid giving hostages to fortune, but I think is the best explanation of the total evidence facing us
The
22 ideas
with the same theme
[all mental events can be explained physically]:
5713
|
You needn't be made of laughing particles to laugh, so why not sensation from senseless seeds?
[Lucretius]
|
7550
|
We could probably, in principle, infer minds from brains, and brains from minds
[Russell]
|
9317
|
Searle argues that biology explains consciousness, but physics won't explain biology
[Searle, by Kriegel/Williford]
|
3474
|
If mind is caused by brain, does this mean mind IS brain?
[Searle]
|
3500
|
Can the homunculus fallacy be beaten by recursive decomposition?
[Searle]
|
6986
|
Is the dependence of the psychological on the physical a priori or a posteriori?
[Jackson]
|
3433
|
The core of the puzzle is the bridge laws between mind and brain
[Kim]
|
4900
|
Prior to Kripke, the mind-brain identity theory usually claimed that the identity was contingent
[Perry]
|
3989
|
I am a reductionist about mind because I am an a priori reductionist about everything
[Lewis]
|
7657
|
Intelligent agents are composed of nested homunculi, of decreasing intelligence, ending in machines
[Dennett]
|
7879
|
Mind-brain reduction is less explanatory, because phenomenal concepts lack causal roles
[Papineau]
|
20971
|
Weak reduction of mind is to physical causes; strong reduction is also to physical laws
[Papineau]
|
21834
|
Sensations may be identical to brain events, but complex mental events don't seem to be
[Flanagan]
|
10826
|
'Valence' and 'gene' had to be reduced to show their compatibility with physicalism
[Field,H]
|
6530
|
We reduce the mind through homuncular groups, described abstractly by purpose
[Lycan]
|
6536
|
Teleological functionalism helps us to understand psycho-biological laws
[Lycan]
|
7704
|
Reduction of intentionality involving nonexistent objects is impossible, as reduction must be to what is actual
[Jacquette]
|
4597
|
Early identity theory talked of mind and brain 'processes', but now the focus is properties
[Heil]
|
4903
|
Scans of brains doing similar tasks produce very similar patterns of activation
[Carter,R]
|
4920
|
Thinking takes place on the upper side of the prefrontal cortex
[Carter,R]
|
4688
|
We imagine small and large objects scaled to the same size, suggesting a fixed capacity for imagination
[Lavers]
|
8685
|
Studying biology presumes the laws of chemistry, and it could never contradict them
[Friend]
|