Mind and Cosmos

Mind and Cosmos PDF Author: Thomas Nagel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199919755
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.

Mind and Cosmos

Mind and Cosmos PDF Author: Thomas Nagel
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199919755
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 141

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Book Description
The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.

Materialist Philosophy of History

Materialist Philosophy of History PDF Author: Branko Mitrovic´
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1793620016
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
What does it mean for our understanding of history if we assume that everything is physical and that no immaterial entities, forces, or phenomena exist? A Materialist Philosophy of History: A Realist Antidote to Postmodernism examines the implications of a materialist worldview in contemporary philosophy of history. Materialism has wide-ranging consequences for historical research as well as for the credibility of various conceptions of the historical past. Branko Mitrović shows how these implications pertain both to the nature of social institutions and the capacities of historical figures to decide, act, acquire beliefs, and communicate and to the methodology of historical research and problems, such as the interpretation and the translation of historical documents. A materialist view also entails rejecting the view that forces such as culture, language, or society can construct physical reality or that the historical past is constructed through the work of the historian. This book examines these consequences and presents a comprehensive materialist perspective on historical research and the understanding of the historical past.

The anti-materialist; a manual for youth: in 3 letters

The anti-materialist; a manual for youth: in 3 letters PDF Author: Richard Warner
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 200

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New Theory of Taxation

New Theory of Taxation PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Finance, Public
Languages : en
Pages : 21

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The Anti-materialist; Denying the Reality of Matter and Vindicating the Universality of Spirit

The Anti-materialist; Denying the Reality of Matter and Vindicating the Universality of Spirit PDF Author: John Dudley (Vicar of Humberston.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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The Anti-Materialist; Denying the Reality of Matter and Vindicating the Universality of Spirit

The Anti-Materialist; Denying the Reality of Matter and Vindicating the Universality of Spirit PDF Author: John DUDLEY (Vicar of Sileby, Leicestershire.)
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Shadow of the Absolute

Shadow of the Absolute PDF Author: Ronald E. Rowe
Publisher: Janus Publishing Company Lim
ISBN: 9781857565188
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
An extensive discussion of false absolutes, culminating in humanism.

The Anti-Materialist: Denying the Reality of Matter, and Vindicating the Universality of Spirit

The Anti-Materialist: Denying the Reality of Matter, and Vindicating the Universality of Spirit PDF Author: John Dudley
Publisher: Wentworth Press
ISBN: 9780530836300
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 294

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Book Description
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Anti-Materialist

The Anti-Materialist PDF Author: John Dudley
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9781333357573
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Excerpt from The Anti-Materialist: Denying the Reality of Matter, and Vindicating the Universality of Spirit The same may be observed of the figures exhibited in churches. Paintings called portraits often give very different features to the same person, but are all equally efficient of the intended purpose: they suggest the same idea of the man and of his character. In truth the visible form is of so little importance, that it is a matter of the utmost indifference, be what it may: almost any form will suffice. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Waning of Materialism

The Waning of Materialism PDF Author: Robert C. Koons
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191614017
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 524

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Book Description
Twenty-three philosophers examine the doctrine of materialism find it wanting. The case against materialism comprises arguments from conscious experience, from the unity and identity of the person, from intentionality, mental causation, and knowledge. The contributors include leaders in the fields of philosophy of mind, metaphysics, ontology, and epistemology, who respond ably to the most recent versions and defences of materialism. The modal arguments of Kripke and Chalmers, Jackson’s knowledge argument, Kim’s exclusion problem, and Burge’s anti-individualism all play a part in the building of a powerful cumulative case against the materialist research program. Several papers address the implications of contemporary brain and cognitive research (the psychophysics of color perception, blindsight, and the effects of commissurotomies), adding a posteriori arguments to the classical a priori critique of reductionism. All of the current versions of materialism — reductive and non-reductive, functionalist, eliminativist, and new wave materialism — come under sustained and trenchant attack. In addition, a wide variety of alternatives to the materialist conception of the person receive new and illuminating attention, including anti-materialist versions of naturalism, property dualism, Aristotelian and Thomistic hylomorphism, and non-Cartesian accounts of substance dualism.