On the Contrary : Critical Essays, 1987-1997

, by Paul M. Churchland and Patricia Smith Churchland

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ISBN: 9780262531658 | 0262531658
Cover: Paperback
Copyright: 6/18/1999

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Paul M. and Patricia S. Churchland are towering figures in the fields of philosophy, neuroscience, and consciousness. This collection was prepared in the belief that the most useful and revealing of anyone's writings are often those shorter essays penned in conflict with or criticism of one's professional colleagues. The essays present the Churchlands' critical responses to a variety of philosophical positions advanced by some two dozen philosophical theorists. The book is divided into three parts: part I, Folk Psychology and Eliminative Materialism; part II, Meaning, Qualia, and Emotion: The Several Dimensions of Consciousness; and part III, the Philosophy of Science. V. S. Ramachandran and Rick Grush are coauthors on two of the essays.

Preface
Acknowledgments
Folk Psychology and Eliminative Materialism
Folk Psychology
Origins of the Idea
Development of the Idea
Consequences of the Idea
Criticism and Defense of the Idea
Transformation of the Idea
Theory, Taxonomy, and Methodology: A Reply to Haldane's "Understanding Folk"
Evaluating Our Self-Conception
The "Functional Kinds" Objection
The "Self-Defeating" Objection
The "What Could Falsify It?" Objection
The "It Serves Quite Different Purposes" Objection
The "No Existing Alternatives" Objection
Concluding Remarks
Activation Vectors vs. Propositional Attitudes: How the Brain Represents Reality
Concluding Remarks
Meaning, Qualia, and Emotion: The Several Dimensions of Consciousness
Could a Machine Think?
Intertheoretic Reduction: A Neuroscientist's Field Guide
Intertheoretic Reduction: Some Prototypical Cases
The Lessons for Neuroscience
Conceptual Similarity across Sensory and
The Problem
Painting a Different Picture
Some Precursors of These Ideas
The Laakso-Cottrell Experiments
Future Directions
Appendix: The Gutman Point-Alienation Measure
Betty Crocker's Theory of Consciousness
The Rediscovery of Light
A Searle-like Family of Arguments Concerning the Nature of Light
Three Jackson-Chalmers-like Arguments Concerning the Nature of
Critical Commentary
A Final Nagel-Searle Argument for Irreducibility
Some Diagnostic Remarks on Qualia
A Final Point About Light
Knowing Qualia: A Reply to Jackson
Postscript: 1997
Recent Work on Consciousness: Philosophical, Theoretical, and Empirical
The Loyal Opposition
The Loyal Opposition Disarmed
Phenomenal Qualia: Theory and Data
Consciousness and Attention: Theory and Data
Filling In: Why Dennett Is Wrong
Dennett's Hypothesis
Psychophysical Data: The Blind Spot
Psychophysical Data: Cortical Scotomata
Psychophysical Data: Artificial Scotomata
Psychophysics and the Krauskopf Effect
The Blind Spot and Cortical Physiology: The Gattass Effect
Artificial Scotomata and Cortical Physiology: The Gilbert Effect
Conclusion
Acknowledgments
Gaps in Penrose's Toilings
Introduction
Compact Version of the Penrose Argument5
Are There Instances of Conscious Human Reasoning That Are
Quasicrystals: Arguments Against B3
Are Microtubules the Generators of Consciousness?
Conclusions
Feeling Reasons
Introduction: The Social Significance of Agent Autonomy and Responsibility
Are We Responsible and In Control if Our Choices and Actions Are Caused?
Are We More In Control and More Responsible to the Degree That Emotions Play a Lesser Role and Reaso...
Are There Significant Neurobiological Differences Between "In Control"
Learning What Is Rational and What Is Not
What Happens to the Concept of Responsibility?
Conclusions
Acknowledgments
The Philosophy of Science
A Deeper Unity: Some Feyerabendian Themes in Neurocomputational Form
Introduction
Neural Nets: An Elementary Account
Epistemological Issues in Neurocomputational Guise
Reply to Glymour
To Transform the Phenomena: Feyerabend, Proliferation, and Recurrent Neural Networks
Introduction
Proliferation: The Original Argument
Proliferation: An Old Neurocomputational Argument
Proliferation: A New Neurocomputational Argument
Concluding Remarks
How Parapsychology Could Become a Science
An Argument for Tolerance
Parapsychology: The Theoretical Side
Parapsychology: The Experimental Side
Notes
References
Index
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On the Contrary : Critical Essays, 1987-1997

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