Philosophy of mind Books

Book SynopsisAs a working neuroscientist, Jay Schulkin's ambitious exploration offers reflections on the pragmatic tradition from a fresh perspective, to present not only a scientist's take on the pragmatic tradition, but also a pragmatist's take on the evolution of human problem solving.Table of ContentsIntroduction Pragmatism and Naturalism Amidst Social Sensibilities C. S. Peirce: A Warranted Perspective on the Culture of Inquiry Evolutionary Origins: Oriented to Kinds Cephalic Capabilities and Medical Decision Making: Endlessly Imperfect Psychobiology: A Jamesian Self-Regulatory View Social Smarts, Moral Sentiments, Social Constructs Evolution, Devolution, and Human Progress Conclusion: Adaptation, Well-Being, and Social Hope Notes References Index

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Book SynopsisFor a long time, commentators viewed Sartre as one of Kant's significant twentieth-century critics. Recent research of their philosophies has discovered that Sartre's relation to Kant's work manifests an 'anxiety of influence', which masks more profound similarities.Trade ReviewBy John Russon, Guelph In my judgment this is a very good proposal, and the project is worth pursuing. This volume intends to map out the relatively uncharted domain of the relationship between philosophies of Kant and Sartre. While Kant is widely recognized as the founding figure of the tradition of Continental philosophy to which Sartre himself belongs, more direct connections between the figures are not widely studied. This work promises to demonstrate a broadly grounded compatibility between the two thinkers, documenting important connections between their approaches to subjectivity, metaphysics, ethics, and more. I think this is quite a worthwhile project, and will be of interest to scholars in Continental philosophy (primarily graduate students and faculty). The sequence of proposed topics of study, as articulated through the abstracts, seems to me to be very well designed to draw important connections between these two thinkers both at a very fundamental, theoretical level, (addressing such topics as the transcendental unity of appreception/pre-reflective cogito, temporality and reflection), and at the level of their most developed reflections on the deepest existential and ethical issues of human life, (addressing such topics as bad faith, happiness and evil). I think the topics are appropriately fundamental and comprehensive. I do not know many of the individual contributors (most of whom are centred in the UK), but the abstracts are very good, and attest to the high quality of the proposed contributions. I also think this book is quite original and distinctive: I do not know of any other volume that covers this important ground. I am quite confident that this will be an excellent volume and a worthwhile contribution to contemporary philosophical research. Author's Response I have two comments with regard to the review: one concerns the area of interest - the volume is not only designed to readers of Continental philosophy; all contributors write in an accessible style, which is common to both good analytic and continental philosophy, and some of them would define themselves as primarily analytic, although they may also write on the work of philosophers usually placed in the continental tradition. The second comment is about the aim of the volume - the volume aims to present some of the similarities between Kant and Sartre, but does this without neglecting their differences.Table of ContentsPART I: INTRODUCTION Kant and Sartre: Existentialism and Critical Philosophy; Jonathan Head et. al.PART II: METAPHYSICS1. (Self-)Consciousness and Transcendental Apperception; Sorin Baiasu2. Kant, Sartre and Temporality; Daniel Herbert3. The Quiet Power of the Imaginary; Thomas Flynn4. Kant and Sartre on Freedom; Christian OnofPART III: METAETHICS5. Sartre and Kant on Reflection and Freedom; Leslie Stevenson6. Action, Value and Autonomy: A Quasi-Sartrean View; Peter Poellner7. Kantian Radical Evil and Sartrean Bad Faith; Justin Alam8. The Pursuit of Happiness; Michelle DarnellPART IV: METAPHILOSOPHY9. Sartre: Transcendental Philosopher or Philosophical Therapist?; Katherine Morris10. The Transcendental Idealisms of Kant and Sartre; Richard Aquila

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Book Synopsis1. A Sneak preview of the Journey Ahead2. A Disciplined Demolition Project3. You ' 're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat4. The Cogwheels of Culture5. The Mind ' 's New Tricks6. Prophets of Design Space7. The Brain ' 's Design Studio8. Flow Experiences: From Mystery to Mechanisms9. In Search of the Artificer Trade Review"Once again, Arne Dietrich proves that he is one of the brightest thinkers on the planet. With great insight, clarity and humor, How Creativity Happens In The Brain gives us a much needed breakdown of the neuroscientific hows and whys of creativity. This book is fantastic-a must read!" - Steven Kotler, a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and cofounder and director of research for the Flow Genome Project "In this brilliantly original book, Arne Dietrich ruthlessly demolishes all the nonsense about "left brains" and "divergent thinking," and sets out a bold new theory of creativity. Written with verve and panache, this is a must read for anyone interested in how brains generate new ideas." - Dylan Evans, author of Risk Intelligence and Placebo: Mind over Matter in Modern Medicine "For those of us getting claustrophobic in the super-heated sauna of pop-culture pontifications on creativity and how to maximize it in our lives, Arne Dietrich's new, groundbreaking book is a welcome, bracing plunge into the icy waters of clear thinking. Dietrich begins with a passionate, neurolingo free de-construction of the multiple theories of creativity prevailing today, including those held in the mostly lofty academic circles. This would be reason enough to make this an important book. But the author goes on to offer a new approach, one that takes seriously the thorough distribution of creativity in the brain and its multifaceted processes. His is an evolutionary paradigm, long familiar from other scholarly domains, with a variation-selection process at its core. Most simply stated: the brain produces (creative) mental models based on predictive processing, tests them, and selects. Dietrich's writing style is both accessible and leavened by a wonderfully wicked sense of humor. All in all, this makes for a great - and transformative - read." Gary Vikan, former Director of the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, USA 'This is a remarkable book, coming from the guy doing the best work on the brain and creativity. Dietrich describes the role of the brain in creativity and clearly identifies what can and cannot be said about the neural basis of creative thinking. He is so right in saying that hundreds of books offer methods and even "results" about creativity, but most of what is available is bunk. It is easy to be misled because many books are written by "brain experts," but most do not know the creativity research. Others are written by creativity experts, but they are not knowledgeable about the brain. This is the first book that draws from both fields, accurately separating the trustworthy from the unreliable. Dietrich identifies what appears to be the central process occurring in the brain that leads to creative behavior ("ideational combination"). He accomplishes a great deal, and yet does it while minimizing impenetrable neurolingo and cumbersome academese. If you are interested in reliable information about the brain and creativity, this book is for you.' - Mark Runco, Editor, Creativity Research JournalTable of Contents1. A Sneak preview of the Journey Ahead2. A Disciplined Demolition Project3. You ' 're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat4. The Cogwheels of Culture5. The Mind ' 's New Tricks6. Prophets of Design Space7. The Brain ' 's Design Studio8. Flow Experiences: From Mystery to Mechanisms9. In Search of the Artificer

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Book SynopsisMarx, the Body, and Human Nature shows that the body and the broader material world played a far more significant role in Marx's theory than previously recognised. It provides a fresh 'take' on Marx's theory, revealing a much more open, dynamic and unstable conception of the body, the self, and human nature.Table of Contents1. Introduction: evading the body 2. Early influences: pain and promise 3. Spinoza ' 's revolution 4. Hegel: wrestling with desire 5. Feuerbach: embracing limitation 6. Marx ' 's Objective Being 7. Marx ' 's Species Being 8. Marx and Species Consciousness 9. The promise of the body

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Book SynopsisThe aim of this book is to acquire a better understanding of the question 'who am I?' By means of the concepts of self-knowledge and self-deception questions about the self are studied. The light in which its topic is seen is the light of love, the light in which other people really become visible and so oneself in one's relation to them.Trade Review“Self-Knowledge and Self-Deception, while well written and engaging, is a scholarly work filled with references … . the author is quite good at guiding the reader by being very explicit about what he aims at, noting how he differs from Socrates, and so forth. … Students who have a certain level of mastery of philosophy and its concepts will enjoy this book, as will other philosophers who are grappling with similar topics.” (Finn Janning, Metapyschology, metapsychology.mentalhelp.net, April, 2016)Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Know Thyself! 2. What Kind Of Self-Knowledge? 3. The Concept Of Self-Deception As Morally Central 4. Self-Deception 5. The True Self 6. The Individual And Society 7. Kant ' 's Political Philosophy 8. The Freedom Of The Will 9. The World As Resistance 10. The Will 11. The Good

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Book SynopsisFreud is best remembered for two applied works on society, The Future of an Illusion and Civilization and its Discontents. Yet the works of the final period are routinely denigrated as merely supplemental to the earlier, more fundamental ''discoveries'' of the unconscious and dream interpretation. In fact, the ''cultural Freud'' is sometimes considered an embarrassment to psychoanalysis. Dufresne argues that the late Freud, as brilliant as ever, was actually revealing the true meaning of his life''s work. And so while The Future of an Illusion, Civilization and its Discontents, and his final work Moses and Monotheism may be embarrassing to some, they validate beliefs that Freud always held - including the psychobiology that provides the missing link between the individual psychology of the early period and the psychoanalysis of culture of the final period. The result is a lively, balanced, and scholarly defense of the late Freud that doubles as a major reassessment of psychoanalysis ofTrade Review'A superb book that will count among a handful of landmark works in the field of Freud Studies. Blending close readings of texts, a sustained attention to Freud's rhetoric, and rigorous historical-cum-biographical contextualization, Dufresne provides a major reassessment of Freud's late 'cultural' works.' Mikkel Borch-Jacobsen, University of Washington'Dufresne serves as a deft, surefooted guide into the dazzling dark continent of drives explored by Freud's later 'cultural' work. It is an intriguing journey.' Richard Kearney, Boston College'In this provocative and engaging study, Dufresne demonstrates the philosophical relevance of Sigmund Freud's late work – including The Future of an Illusion (1927), Civilization and its Discontents (1927), and the essays leading to Moses and Monotheism (1939) – as well as the strong link between Freud's cultural critique and his psychoanalytic theory.' Liliane Weissberg, University of Pennsylvania'This book will provide scholars of Freudian theory with useful and complex considerations of Freud's understanding of culture.' CHOICE'This book is must reading for anyone interested in the history and historiography of psychoanalysis … anyone interested in Freud's life and times will find this an extremely rewarding book.' Daniel Burston, PsycCRITIQUES'The author writes with great wit and impressive conviction; an astonishing wealth and density of his learning, research and extrapolations are on display in these pages … As a reviewer, one can offer no purer praise, perhaps, than to say that the book under review will be picked up again and consulted; and this one will.' David Matthew, Metapsychology Online Reviews (www.metapsychology.mentalhelp.net)'Dufresne's exploration of the key cultural texts mixes a critical reading, intellectual history and biography. In the course of which he attempts to highlight hitherto underemphasised elements of the late Freud.' Matt Dawson, SociologyTable of ContentsPreface; Acknowledgments; Introduction. Death and the cultural turn in psychoanalysis; 1. Positivism and the specter of non-existence: the romantic depths of Freud's The Future of an Illusion; 2. Mysticism, war, love, and religion: Civilization and its Discontents, reality, and Romain Rolland; 3. 'The audacity cannot be avoided': Freud and Moses, reality and fiction; Conclusion. Ethics, spirituality, and psychoanalysis: prequel to the 'late Freud'; Coda. 'Undisguised resentment', war, and the challenge of being cultured; References; Index.

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Book SynopsisInsight is widely regarded as Bernard Lonergan’s masterwork. Worked out over a period of twenty-eight years, its aim was to present a theory of human knowing that underpinned the wide range of disciplines it addressed and their distinctive insights. In Lonergan’s Quest, William A. Mathews details the genesis, researching, composition, and question structure of Insight. The path to Insight began for Lonergan in the 1920s with his studies in philosophy at Heythrop College. Questioning many of the accepted truths of those studies, Lonergan's interests moved to economics while teaching in Depression-era Montreal, and later to theology and the philosophy of history while studying in Rome. The writing of Insight began in earnest in 1949 and soon evolved into Lonergan’s masterpiece, encompassing his many divergent, but philosophically coherent, streams of thought. An intellectual biography, Lonergan’s Quest locates

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Book SynopsisJustin Sytsma is a Lecturer in Philosophy at Victoria University of Wellington in New ZealandTrade ReviewAn illuminating modern guide to profound puzzles of mind, required reading for both philosophers and psychologists. -- Kurt Gray, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of North Carolina, USAA cutting-edge collection, including a broad range of new work by some of the leading contributors to the field. -- Eric Schwitzgebel, Professor of Philosophy, University of California, Riverside, USAThis is a terrific collection of cutting edge papers by some of the best and most creative young people in the field! -- Stephen Stich, Board of Governors Professor of Philosophy & Cognitive Science, Rutgers University, USAJustin Sytsma has assembled a useful snapshot of the current state of experimental philosophy of mind. Each article builds on a substantial body of previous work in psychology, experimental philosophy, and traditional philosophy. Because of this, the chapters deliver compelling contributions to the literature on mental state attributions, moral judgments, personal identity, and concepts. -- Kaija Mortensen, Randolph College * Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews *Table of ContentsSeries Preface 1. Introduction, Justin Sytsma 2. The Role of Intuition, Jennifer Nado 3. How Many of Us are There?, Hannah Tierney, Chris Howard, Victor Kumar, Trevor Kvaran, and Shaun Nichols 4. Phenomenal Consciousness Disembodied, Wesley Buckwalter and Mark Phelan 5. Pain Hallucinations, Kevin Reuter, Dustin Phillips, and Justin Sytsma 6. Taking an “Intentional Stance” on Moral Psychology, Jordan Theriault and Liane Young 7. More than a Feeling: Counterintuitive Effects of Compassion on Moral Judgment, Anthony Jack, Philip Robbins, Jared Friedman, and Chris Meyers 8. New Evidence for the Heterogeneity Hypothesis, Edouard Machery Glossary Annotated Bibliography Index

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