: Jens Harbecke
: Mental Causation Investigating the Mind's Powers in a Natural World
: Walter de Gruyter GmbH& Co.KG
: 9783110324846
: Metaphysical ResearchISSN
: 1
: CHF 177.40
:
: Sonstiges
: English
: 434
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF
!doctype html public '-//w3c//dtd html 4.0 transitional//en'>This work is a systematic investigation of a range of solutions offered today for the philosophical problem of mental causation. The premises constituting the problem are analyzed before a survey is developed of the most popular theories on mental causation. It is demonstrated in detail why most of these canonical solutions must be considered deficient. In a third part, the 'new compatibilist's' approach to mental causation is explored, which is characterized by assertion of a non-identity-but-non-distinct ess principle. The last part aims to offer an alternative solution to the problem. On the basis of a certain set of counterfactual conditionals, which are jointly taken to provide a definition of 'causal proportionality' that improves the existing definitions, it is shown that a specific, and hitherto widely neglected, version of causal overdeterminationism must be considered the most successful solution to the problem of mental causation.
Table of contents5
Acknowledgements6
Introduction7
Chapter 1The Problem of Mental Causation: premises andcentral principles13
1.1 Formulations of the Problem16
1.2 Supervenience50
1.3 Multiple realization and functional states68
1.4 Epiphenomena and the Eleatic Principle81
1.5 Theoretical economy and explanatory strength83
1.6 The neutrality of the Problem85
Chapter 2Canonical solutions to the Problem103
2.1 Dualism103
2.2 Physicalism113
2.3 Special cases156
2.4 Summary and conclusion160
Chapter 3New compatibilism and mental causation163
3.1 The “constitutionalist” approach167
3.2 The “determinationist” approach175
3.3 Theories inspired by the “determinationist” approach211
3.4 Critique225
3.5 Summary and conclusion249
Chapter 4Open solutions251
4.1 Introductory remarks252
4.2 Reviewing the solutions279
4.3 Overdeterminationism Lite pursued313
4.4 Plural Determinism pursued346
4.5 Overdeterminationism Lite vs. Plural Determinism406
4.6 Summary and Conclusion408
Bibliography409