On the Philosophy of Mind / Edition 1

by Barbara Montero

Overview

Each volume in the Wadsworth Philosophical Topics Series provides a problems-based orientation to leading topics of philosophical inquiry that is accessible to undergraduate students and general readers. More than a collection of introductory volumes summarizing standard philosophical positions, the Wadsworth Philosophical Topics Series engages readers philosophically, inviting them to wonder, examine, and reason critically. Series editor, Robert B. Talisse of the Philosophy Department of Vanderbilt University, oversees each volume, helping ensure that each book will empower the reader to better understand major topics in philosophy. The titles in the series are written by philosophers distinguished in their fields who have been noted for exceptional teaching and clear writing. These books will prove valuable to philosophy teachers and their students, as well as to other readers who share a general interest in philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900495005024
Publisher:	Cengage Learning
Publication date:	03/31/2008
Series:	Wadsworth Philosophical Topics Series
Edition description:	1ST
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Barbara Montero is an assistant professor at the City University of New York, College of Staten Island and the Graduate Center. Her research has focused on one or the other of two very different notions of body: body as the physical or material basis of everything, and body as the moving, breathing, flesh and blood instrument that we use when we run, walk, or dance.

She has published articles in journals such as Nous, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, and the Journal of Consciousness Studies and has been the recipient of a number of awards including a recent NEH Research Fellowship for her work on proprioception.

Table of Contents

Philosophy of Mind: Introduction     1
The Mind-Body Problem     5
A Mad Scientist's Instructions for Creating a Human Being     12
Understanding Dualism of Mind and Body     21
Motivations for Dualism     29
Descartes's Argument for Dualism     37
The Zombie Argument for Dualism     44
The Knowledge Argument for Dualism     49
The Problem of Other Minds and the Behaviorist's Solution     54
Physicalism or the Three-Pound Mind     59
Mind as the Physical Cause of Behavior     67
Thinking About Thought     73
Can Computers Think?     81
Mind and Meaning     90
Consciousness     98
The "Body" Side of the Mind-Body Problem     109
Ah, The Emotions     116
Brain Transplants and Personal Identity     123
Freedom of the Will     129
Immortality of the Soul     137