Brains: Recent Comments

Comment on Budapest Semester in Cognitive Science

Edouard Machery — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 00:11:45 GMT

Tony,

Given what is happening in Hungary these days (extreme xenophobia, hatred of gypsies, authoritarian government), I think that we should consider boycotting this country.

Comment on successful vs. unsuccessful psychopaths

Katrina Sifferd — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:19:59 GMT

Hi - just send me an email (sifferdk@elmhurst.edu) and I'll send along a copy of the paper.

Comment on successful vs. unsuccessful psychopaths

Preston Gowing — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 06:33:19 GMT

could you please pass on the full paper to me. Thank you

Comment on List of arguments against physicalism about consciousness

Tennenrishin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:46:46 GMT

Here is a very long forum discussion of what I called the "Information Argument Against Physicalism" in my previous comment:
http://forums.philosophyforums.com/threads/an-argument-against-physicalism-38692.html
There is a lot of back and forth in this very long discussion, but if you have the time and patience to read through it you will notice the rare phenomenon of some physicalists beginning to see the light.

Comment on List of arguments against physicalism about consciousness

Tennenrishin — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 18:30:48 GMT

Information Argument Against Physicalism:
Suppose I have a doppelganger. We each (subjectively) see a distinction between two universes that have the same (objectively considered) physical state. So my sentience gives me (private) access to information that is not stored in the physical universe.

More verbose argument:
http://www.museful.net/2011/philosophy/the-information-argument

Comment on Templeton Foundation Open Submission--Starting Soon!

gualtiero piccinini — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 03:52:35 GMT

thanks. i hope they are fixed now.

Comment on Templeton Foundation Open Submission--Starting Soon!

Daniel Weiskopf — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:40:18 GMT

Gualtiero, all of the links are broken in this.

Comment on Greetings

John Gregg — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:18:50 GMT

Very, very briefly:

To answer your last question first, yes, people draw a distinction between the philosophy of mind and the hard sciences, or at least some people do (see below). My own take on the situation is that for most of the 20th century, uttering the work "consciousness" would get you denied tenure. The orthodoxy of reductive materialism and its bedfellow, behaviorism, ruled academia. In the last few decades, however, there has been a thaw. The central divide these days is between the A team and the B team (not my terms).

Daniel Dennett (Consciousness Explained, 1991 is his great book) is captain of the A team. These are the reductive materialists, who think that science, as currently conceived, is sufficient to answer all coherent questions about minds, and the more we discover about neurons, the more "philosophical" questions will melt away and be shown to be (merely) scientific questions. They like to point out that the phenomenon of life was once thought to be mysterious and fundamental, but eventually turned out to be (merely) a question of very fancy Darwinian engineering.

David Chalmers (The Conscious Mind, 1996) is the captain of the B team. These people are often called dualists, although they rarely call themselves that. Let's call them qualophiles. They generally like science as far as it goes, but think that it can never, in principle, explain consciousness. They are compelled, with varying degrees of distaste, to take positions that are either overtly spooky and mysterious, or have some potentially spooky and mysterious implications. They are greatly impressed with "qualia" the raw feels of consciousness (hence the label "qualophiles"). Their gateway drug is the question, "what is it like to see red?"

I myself am a qualophile, solidly on the B team. I expand on all of this and attempt to justify my positions here:

http://www.jrg3.net/mind

Comment on Women Working in the Philosophy of Mind

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:54:11 GMT

Jennifer Mundale
Adele Abrahamson
Sabine Döring

Comment on Women Working in the Philosophy of Mind

Anonymous — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 23:24:20 GMT

This is super. I might also add Brain's own contributor, Serife Tekin (Dalhousie).