Synopses & Reviews
Paul Churchland has been viewed as a provocative, controversial philosopher of mind and science for over three decades. This collection offers an introduction to his work as well as a critique of some of his most famous philosophical positions, and includes contributions by established as well as promising young philosophers. It is intended to complement the growing literature on Churchland, focusing on his contributions in isolation from those of his wife and philosophical partner, Patricia Churchland, and his contributions to philosophy as distinquished from those he made to cognitive science.
About the Author
Brian L. Keeley is an Assistant Professor of Philosophy at Pitzer College in Claremont, California. His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institute for Mental Health, the McDonnell Project for Philosophy and the Neurosciences, and the American Council of Learned Societies. He has published in the Journal of Philosophy, Philosophical Pyschology, Philosophy of Science, Biology and Philosophy and Brain and Mind.
Table of Contents
Preface Brian L. Keeley; 1. Becoming Paul M. Churchland Brian L. Keeley; 2. Arguing for eliminativism Jose Luis Bermudez; 3. The introspectibility of brain states as such Pete Mandik; 4. Empiricism and state space semantics Jesse J. Prinz; 5. Churchland on connectionism Aarre Laakso and Garrison W. Cottrell; 6. Reduction as cognitive strategy C. A. Hooker; 7. The unexpected realist William H. Krieger and Brian L. Keeley; 8. Two steps closer on consciousness Daniel C. Dennett.