: Markus I. Eronen
: Reduction in Philosophy of Mind A Pluralistic Account
: Walter de Gruyter GmbH& Co.KG
: 9783110332131
: Epistemische Studien / Epistemic StudiesISSN
: 1
: CHF 119.70
:
: 20. und 21. Jahrhundert
: English
: 189
: Wasserzeichen
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF
The notion of reduction continues to play a key role in philosophy of mind and philosophy of cognitive science. Supporters of reductionism claim that psychological properties or explanations reduce to neural properties or explanations, while antireductionists claim that such reductions are not possible. In this book, I apply recent developments in philosophy of science, particularly the mechanistic explanation paradigm and the interventionist theory of causation, to reassess the traditional approaches to reduction in philosophy of mind. I then elaborate and defend a pluralistic framework for philosophy of mind, and show how reductionist ideas can be incorporated into it. This leads to a novel synthesis of pluralism and reductionism that I call pluralistic physicalism.

Introduction11
PART I: Reduction in Philosophy of Science15
Introduction17
1. Reduction: From Derivations of Theories to Ruthless Metascience19
2. Mechanistic Explanation29
3. The Interventionist Account of Causation39
4. Levels45
Conclusions: Reductionism vs. Explanatory pluralism57
PART II: Rethinking Reduction in Philosophy of Mind59
Introduction61
5. Traditional Approaches to Reduction in Philosophy of Mind63
5.1. British Emergentism63
5.2. Logical Behaviorism and Identity Theory69
5.3. Multiple Realizability72
5.4. The Disunity of Science as a Working Hypothesis78
5.5. Functionalism81
5.6. The Dream of Nonreductive Physicalism86
6. Functional Reduction91
6.1. The Causal Exclusion Argument and the Functional Model91
6.2. Kim vs. Nagel96
6.3. Dissecting the Functional Model98
6.3.1. Functionalization99
6.3.2. Realization102
6.3.3. Causation106
6.4. Functional Reduction as Mechanistic Explanation110
7. Phenomenal Consciousness and the Explanatory Gap113
8. New Type Physicalism123
Conclusions: Rethinking Reduction in Philosophy of Mind135
PART III: A New Framework for Philosophy of Mind137
Introduction139
9. Explanatory Pluralism for Philosophy of Mind141
10. From Explanatory Pluralism to Pluralistic Physicalism147
11. Pluralistic Physicalism and Causal Exclusion Worries157
12. Dimensions of Explanatory Power165
Conclusions and Directions for Further Research173
References177