Representational Ideas

Representational Ideas PDF Author: R. A. Watson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401100756
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
In Representational Ideas: From Plato to Patricia Churchland Watson argues that all intelligible theories of representation by ideas are based on likeness between representations and objects. He concludes that 17th century materialist criticisms of `having' mental representations in the mind apply to contemporary material representations in the brain, as proposed by neurophilosophers. The argument begins with Plato, with particular stress on Descartes, Malebranche, and Arnauld. He then proceeds with an examination of the picture theory developed by Wittgenstein, Carnap, and Goodman, and concludes with an examination of Patricia Churchland, Ruth Millikan, Robert Cummins, and Mark Rollins. The use of the historical development of representationalism to pose a central problem in contemporary cognitive science is unique. For students, scholars and researchers in neuroscience, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, and modern philosophy.

Representational Ideas

Representational Ideas PDF Author: R. A. Watson
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9401100756
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
In Representational Ideas: From Plato to Patricia Churchland Watson argues that all intelligible theories of representation by ideas are based on likeness between representations and objects. He concludes that 17th century materialist criticisms of `having' mental representations in the mind apply to contemporary material representations in the brain, as proposed by neurophilosophers. The argument begins with Plato, with particular stress on Descartes, Malebranche, and Arnauld. He then proceeds with an examination of the picture theory developed by Wittgenstein, Carnap, and Goodman, and concludes with an examination of Patricia Churchland, Ruth Millikan, Robert Cummins, and Mark Rollins. The use of the historical development of representationalism to pose a central problem in contemporary cognitive science is unique. For students, scholars and researchers in neuroscience, cognitive science, philosophy of mind, and modern philosophy.

The Functional Versus the Representational Theories of Knowledge in Locke's Essay

The Functional Versus the Representational Theories of Knowledge in Locke's Essay PDF Author: Addison Webster Moore
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Knowledge, Theory of
Languages : en
Pages : 74

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Book Description


Taking-Place: Non-Representational Theories and Geography

Taking-Place: Non-Representational Theories and Geography PDF Author: Ben Anderson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317046951
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 419

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Book Description
Emerging over the past ten years from a set of post-structuralist theoretical lineages, non-representational theories are having a major impact within Human Geography. Non-representational theorisation and research has opened up new sets of problematics around the body, practice and performativity and inspired new ways of doing and writing human geography that aim to engage with the taking-place of everyday life. Drawing together a range of innovative contributions from leading writers, this is the first book to provide an extensive and in-depth overview of non-representational theories and human geography. The work addresses the core themes of this still-developing field, demonstrates the implications of non-representational theories for many aspects of human geographic thought and practice, and highlights areas of emergent critical debate. The collection is structured around four thematic sections - Life, Representation, Ethics and Politics - which explore the varied relations between non-representational theories and contemporary human geography.

Topics in Early Modern Philosophy of Mind

Topics in Early Modern Philosophy of Mind PDF Author: Jon Miller
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 904812381X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
During the early modern era (c. 1600-1800), philosophers formulated a number of new questions, methods of investigation, and theories regarding the nature of the mind. The result of their efforts has been described as “the original cognitive revolution”. Topics in Early Modern Philosophy of Mind provides a comprehensive snapshot of this exciting period in the history of thinking about the mind, presenting studies of a wide array of philosophers and topics. Written by some of today’s foremost authorities on early modern philosophy, the ten chapters address issues ranging from those that have long captivated philosophers and psychologists as well as those that have been underexplored. Likewise, the papers engage figures from the history of ideas who are well-known today (Descartes, Hume, Kant) as well as those who have been comparatively neglected by contemporary scholarship (Desgabets, Boyle, Collins). This volume will become an essential reference work that graduate students and professionals in the fields of philosophy of mind, the history of philosophy, and the history of psychology will want to own.

Representation and the Mind-Body Problem in Spinoza

Representation and the Mind-Body Problem in Spinoza PDF Author: Michael Della Rocca
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0195357310
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 238

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Book Description
This first extensive study of Spinoza's philosophy of mind concentrates on two problems crucial to the philosopher's thoughts on the matter: the requirements for having a thought about a particular object, and the problem of the mind's relation to the body. Della Rocca contends that Spinoza's positions are systematically connected with each other and with a principle at the heart of his metaphysical system: his denial of causal or explanatory relations between the mental and the physical. In this way, Della Rocca's exploration of these two problems provides a new and illuminating perspective on Spinoza's philosophy as a system.

Descartes and the Puzzle of Sensory Representation

Descartes and the Puzzle of Sensory Representation PDF Author: Raffaella De Rosa
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191610062
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
While much has been written on Descartes' theory of mind and ideas, no systematic study of his theory of sensory representation and misrepresentation is currently available in the literature. Descartes and the Puzzle of Sensory Misrepresentation is an ambitious attempt to fill this gap. It argues against the established view that Cartesian sensations are mere qualia by defending the view that they are representational; it offers a descriptivist-causal account of their representationality that is critical of, and differs from, all other extant accounts (such as, for example, causal, teleofunctional and purely internalist accounts); and it has the advantage of providing an adequate solution to the problem of sensory misrepresentation within Descartes' internalist theory of ideas. In sum, the book offers a novel account of the representationality of Cartesian sensations; provides a panoramic overview, and critical assessment, of the scholarly literature on this issue; and places Descartes' theory of sensation in the central position it deserves among the philosophical and scientific investigations of the workings of the human mind.

Hume, Passion, and Action

Hume, Passion, and Action PDF Author: Elizabeth Schmidt Radcliffe
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199573298
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 243

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Book Description
David Hume's theory of action is well known for several provocative theses, including that passion and reason cannot be opposed over the direction of action. Elizabeth S. Radcliffe defends an original interpretation of Hume's views on passion, reason, and motivation which is consistent with other theses in Hume's philosophy, loyal to his texts, and historically situated. She challenges the now orthodox interpretation of Hume on motivation, presenting an alternative that situates Hume closer to "Humeans" than many recent interpreters have. Part of the strategy is to examine the thinking of the early modern intellectuals to whom Hume responds. Most of these thinkers insisted that passions lead us to pursue harmful objects unless regulated by reason; and most regarded passions as representations of good and evil, which can be false. Understanding Hume's response to these claims requires appreciating his respective characterizations of reason and passion. The author argues that Hume's thesis that reason is practically impotent apart from passion is about beliefs generated by reason, rather than about the capacity of reason. Furthermore, the argument makes sense of Hume's sometimes-ridiculed description of passions as "original existences" having no reference to objects. The author also shows how Hume understood morality as intrinsically motivating, while holding that moral beliefs are not themselves motives, and why he thought of passions as self-regulating, contrary to the admonitions of the rationalists.

Representation Reconsidered

Representation Reconsidered PDF Author: William M. Ramsey
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521859875
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 284

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Book Description
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Hume's Imagination

Hume's Imagination PDF Author: Tito Magri
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192679112
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 511

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Book Description
This book proposes a new and systematic interpretation of the mental nature, function and structure, and importance of the imagination in Book 1, 'Of the Understanding', of Hume's Treatise of Human Nature. The proposed interpretation has deeply revisionary implications for Hume's philosophy of mind and for his naturalism, epistemology, and stance to scepticism. The book remedies a surprising blindspot in Hume scholarship and contributes to the current, lively philosophical debate on imagination. Hume's philosophy, if rightly understood, gives suggestions about how to treat imagination as a mental natural kind, its cognitive complexity and variety of functions notwithstanding. Hume's imagination is a faculty of inference and the source of a distinctive kind of idea, which complements our sensible representations of objects. Our cognitive nature, if restricted to the representation of objects and of their relations, would leave ordinary and philosophical cognition seriously underdetermined and expose us to scepticism. Only the non-representational, inferential faculty of the imagination can put in place and vindicate ideas like causation, body, and self, which support our cognitive practices. The book reconstructs how Hume's naturalist inferentialism about the imagination develops this fundamental insight. Its five parts deal with the dualism of representation and inference; the explanation of generality and modality; the production of causal ideas; the production of spatial and temporal content, and the distinction of an external world of bodies and an internal one of selves; and the replacement of the understanding with imagination in the analysis of cognition and in epistemology.

Realism, Science, and Pragmatism

Realism, Science, and Pragmatism PDF Author: Kenneth R. Westphal
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 131769970X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 329

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Book Description
This collection of original essays aims to reinvigorate the debate surrounding philosophical realism in relation to philosophy of science, pragmatism, epistemology, and theory of perception. Questions concerning realism are as current and as ancient as philosophy itself; this volume explores relations between different positions designated as ‘realism’ by examining specific cases in point, drawn from a broad range of systematic problems and historical views, from ancient Greek philosophy through the present. The first section examines the context of the project; contributions systematically engage the historical background of philosophical realism, re-examining key works of Aristotle, Descartes, Quine, and others. The following two sections epitomize the central tension within current debates: scientific realism and pragmatism. These contributions address contemporary questions of scientific realism and the reality of the objects of science, and consider whether, how or the extent to which realism and pragmatism are compatible. With an editorial introduction by Kenneth R. Westphal, these fourteen original essays provide wide-ranging, salient insights into the status of realism today.