Consciousness

By: William G. Lycan

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Paperback | 2 March 1995

At a Glance

Paperback
182 Pages

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18+

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0.1 x 0.1 x 0.1

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What is consciousness? The answer to this question has been pondered upon, grappled with, and argued about since time immemorial. There has never been an answer that achieved consensus; certainly philosophers have never agreed.

In this book, William Lycan defends an original theory of mind that he calls "homuncular functionalism." He argues that human beings are "functionally organized information-processing systems" who have no non-physical parts or properties. However, Lycan also recognizes the subjective phenomenal qualities of mental states and events, and an important sense in which mind is "over and above" mere chemical matter. Along the way, Lycan reviews some diverse philosophical accounts of consciousness-including those of Kripke, Block, Campbell, Sellars, and Castaneda, among others-and demonstrates how what is valuable in each opposing view can be accommodated within his own theory.

Consciousness is Lycan's most ambitious book, one that has engaged his attention for years. He handles a fascinating subject in a unique and undoubtedly controversial manner that will make this book a mainstay in the field of philosophy of mind.

William G. Lycan is Professor of Philosophy at the University of North Carolina. He is the author of Logical Form in Natural Language and, with Steven Boer, Knowing Who. Consciousness, with these earlier works, is a Bradford Book.

Industry Reviews

"Lycan's writing invariably displays a remarkable and enviable combination of clarity of exposition, exegetical precision and illuminating criticism. Moreover, Lycan has organized his book in a way that will maximize both the forcefulness of his position and the accessibility of his arguments."--David M. Rosenthal, Program in Philosophy, CUNY Graduate School, New York

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You Can Find This Book In

Non-Fiction Philosophy Philosophy of The Mind History of Western Philosophy Psychology Cognition & Cognitive Psychology Psychological Theory, Systems, Schools of Thought & Viewpoints Cognitivism, Cognitive Theory States of Consciousness Drug-Induced States

Preface
Acknowledgments
Consciousness and Nature
Dualism and Behaviorism
Disadvantages of Behaviorism
The Identity Theory and Functionalism
Functionalism and Essence
"Topic-Neutrality"
Kripke's Argument against Token Identity
Dialectic and Diagnosis
A Final Criticism of Kripke and a First Encounter with the Banana Peel
Topic-Neutrality and Essence
Stalking the Tinfoil Man
Block's Examples
The New Lilliputian Argument (and Its Correct Understanding)
Other Counterexamples to Machine Functionalism
The Continuity of Levels of Nature
The Hierarchy
Homuncular Functionalism
Homunculi and Teleology
Advantages of the Teleological Approach
Homunctionalism and "Qualia"
Preliminaries
Diagnosis
The Cases
The Problem of the Inputs and the Outputs
Two Alternative Strategies
Homunctionalism against Commonsense Relationalism
Awareness and Intentionality
Awareness
Introspecting
"Subjectivity"
Nagel's Argument
What Is It Like to Be an Unsound Argument against Materialism?
The Move to Funny Facts
An Argument against "Perspectival Facts"
Events, and the Banana Peel, Again
The Rest of "Subjectivity"
Color as a Paradigm Case of a Quale
Phenomenal Individuals versus Adverbially Qualified States
Type-Type Functionlalism
Token-Token Physicalism
Adverbialism, Syntax, and Semantics
Phenomenal Individuals from a Materialist Point of View
Objections
Sellars' "Grain" Argument
Sensa
Argument G and Science
Sensa and Microphysics
Against Argument G
Possibilities for Sellarsian Color in the Scientific Image
Freedom of the Will and the Spontaneity of Consciousness
The Problem of Freedom of the Will
The Initial Plausibility of the Premises
Soft Determinism
Objections and Replies
The Spontaneity of Consciousness
Epilogue
Appendix: Machine Consciousnessl
Notes
References
Index
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Consciousness

At a Glance

Paperback

Industry Reviews

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How to return your order

Defective items

You Can Find This Book In

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