Qualia and Mental Causation in a Physical World: Themes from the Philosophy of Jaegwon Kim

Cambridge University Press, 3/5/2015
EAN 9781107077836, ISBN10: 1107077834

Hardcover, 282 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.8 cm
Language: English

How does mind fit into nature? Philosophy has long been concerned with this question. No contemporary philosopher has done more to clarify it than Jaegwon Kim, a distinguished analytic philosopher specializing in metaphysics and philosophy of mind. With new contributions from an outstanding line-up of eminent scholars, this volume focuses on issues raised in Kim's work. The chapters cluster around two themes: first, exclusion, supervenience, and reduction, with attention to the causal exclusion argument for which Kim is widely celebrated; and second, phenomenal consciousness and qualia, with attention to the prospects for a functionalist account of the mental. This volume is sure to become a major focus of attention and research in the disciplines of metaphysics and philosophy of mind.

1. Reality and reduction
what's really at stake in the causal exclusion debate Louise Antony
2. Two property theories and the causal conundrum for physicalism Frank Jackson
3. Mental causation
the free lunch Barry Loewer
4. Does mental causation require psychophysical identities? Brian McLaughlin
5. The Canberra plan neglects ground Ned Block
6. Microrealization and the mental Sydney Shoemaker
7. Supervenience and the causal explanation of behavior Fred Dretske
8. Visual awareness and visual qualia Christopher Hill
9. Phenomenal externalism, Lolita, and the planet Xenon Michael Tye
10. Troubles for radical transparency James Van Cleve
11. How theories work
open questions for methodological philosophy of science Lawrence Sklar.