Since Hilary Putnam offered multiple realization as an empirical
hypothesis in the 1960s, philosophical consensus has turned against
the idea that mental processes could be identified with brain
processes, and multiple realization has become the keystone of the
'antireductive consensus' across philosophy of science broadly. Thomas
W. Polger and Lawrence A. Shapiro offer the first book-length
investigation of multiple realization. Their analysis of multiple
realization serves as a starting point to a series of philosophically
sophisticated and empirically informed arguments that cast doubt on
the generality of multiple realization in the cognitive sciences. In
the course of making their case, they respond to classic defenses of
multiple realization that Jerry Fodor, Ned Block, and other prominent
philosophers of psychology have offered. Polger and Shapiro conclude
that the identity theory, once left for dead, remains a viable theory
of mind—one that, when suitably framed, enjoys the benefits
typically thought to accrue only to theories of mind that presuppose
the truth of multiple realization. As Polger and Shapiro see matters,
mind-brain identities have played an important role in the growth and
achievements of the cognitive sciences, and they see little
prospect—or need—for multiple realization in an empirically-based
theory of mind. This leads Polger and Shapiro to offer an alternative
framework for understanding explanations in the cognitive sciences, as
well as in chemistry, biology, and other non-basic sciences.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780191085499
Publisert
2020
Utgave
1. utgave
Utgiver
Oxford University Press Academic UK
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter