The Brain in a Vat
The Brain in a Vat

Author: Sanford Goldberg

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2016-06-23

Total Pages: 281

ISBN-13: 110706967X

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This collection of new essays examines the brain-in-a-vat scenario and its implications. Reviewing the history and contributions of debates on this thought experiment, as well as discussing the impact of contemporary philosophical debates, the volume is a valuable resource for advanced students and readers in philosophy of mind and language, epistemology and metaphysics.

Skepticism
Skepticism

Author: Keith DeRose

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13:

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Skepticism: Contemporary Reader brings together the most important recent contributions to the discussion of skepticism. Covering major approaches to the skeptical problem, it features essays by Anthony Brueckner, Keith DeRose, Fred Dretske, Graeme Forbes, Christopher Hill, David Lewis, Thomas Nagel, Robert Nozick, Hilary Putnam, Ernest Sosa, Gail Stine, Barry Stroud, Peter Unger, and Ted Warfield.

The Extended Mind
The Extended Mind

Author: Richard Menary

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 0262014033

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Leading scholars respond to the famous proposition by Andy Clark and David Chalmers that cognition and mind are not located exclusively in the head.

Reason, Truth and History
Reason, Truth and History

Author: Hilary Putnam

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1981-12-31

Total Pages: 244

ISBN-13: 1139935666

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Hilary Putnam deals in this book with some of the most fundamental persistent problems in philosophy: the nature of truth, knowledge and rationality. His aim is to break down the fixed categories of thought which have always appeared to define and constrain the permissible solutions to these problems.

The Illusion of Doubt
The Illusion of Doubt

Author: Genia Schönbaumsfeld

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2016

Total Pages: 178

ISBN-13: 0198783949

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The Illusion of Doubt confronts one of the most important questions in philosophy: what can we know? The radical sceptic's answer is 'not very much' if we cannot prove that we are not subject to (permanent) deception. This book shows that the radical sceptical problem is an illusion created by a mistaken picture of our evidential situation.

Out of Our Heads
Out of Our Heads

Author: Alva Noë

Publisher: Hill and Wang

Published: 2010-02-02

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 1429957190

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Alva Noë is one of a new breed—part philosopher, part cognitive scientist, part neuroscientist—who are radically altering the study of consciousness by asking difficult questions and pointing out obvious flaws in the current science. In Out of Our Heads, he restates and reexamines the problem of consciousness, and then proposes a startling solution: Do away with the two hundred-year-old paradigm that places consciousness within the confines of the brain. Our culture is obsessed with the brain—how it perceives; how it remembers; how it determines our intelligence, our morality, our likes and our dislikes. It's widely believed that consciousness itself, that Holy Grail of science and philosophy, will soon be given a neural explanation. And yet, after decades of research, only one proposition about how the brain makes us conscious—how it gives rise to sensation, feeling, and subjectivity—has emerged unchallenged: We don't have a clue. In this inventive work, Noë suggests that rather than being something that happens inside us, consciousness is something we do. Debunking an outmoded philosophy that holds the scientific study of consciousness captive, Out of Our Heads is a fresh attempt at understanding our minds and how we interact with the world around us.

The Biological Mind
The Biological Mind

Author: Alan Jasanoff

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2018-03-13

Total Pages: 342

ISBN-13: 154164431X

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A pioneering neuroscientist argues that we are more than our brains To many, the brain is the seat of personal identity and autonomy. But the way we talk about the brain is often rooted more in mystical conceptions of the soul than in scientific fact. This blinds us to the physical realities of mental function. We ignore bodily influences on our psychology, from chemicals in the blood to bacteria in the gut, and overlook the ways that the environment affects our behavior, via factors varying from subconscious sights and sounds to the weather. As a result, we alternately overestimate our capacity for free will or equate brains to inorganic machines like computers. But a brain is neither a soul nor an electrical network: it is a bodily organ, and it cannot be separated from its surroundings. Our selves aren't just inside our heads -- they're spread throughout our bodies and beyond. Only once we come to terms with this can we grasp the true nature of our humanity.

A Brain for Business – A Brain for Life
A Brain for Business – A Brain for Life

Author: Shane O'Mara

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-10-06

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 3319491547

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Behaviour change is hard, but O’Mara shows that by adopting strategies that are well-founded in the science of brain and behaviour individuals and organisations can adapt to the demands of the modern world. The brain matters in business. The problem is that our brains have many biases, heuristics and predilections that can distort behaviour and decision making. The good news is that we know more about how these work than ever before. O’Mara’s starting point is that, as our behaviour arises from the structure and function of our brains, careful examination of a series of brain–based (‘neurocognitive’) analyses of common aspects of human behaviour relevant to business and management practice reveals lessons that can be used at work. He begins by looking at neuroplasticity and how it is enables a shift from a restrictive ‘fixed mindset’ to an enabling ‘growth mindset’. He shows how this changing mindset approach – where the focus is on task and improvements based on effort – is scalable within organisations. Next, as the brain is a living organ like the heart and lungs, O’Mara shows how to keep it physically in the best possible shape before examining how we exercise control over our behaviour, build resilience and create positive brain states. He also considers the implications for business of our brains wiring for status and illustrates how research shows that it is possible to de-bias assumptions about gender and race – and the impact that this has on performance.

The Peripheral Mind
The Peripheral Mind

Author: István Aranyosi

Publisher: OUP USA

Published: 2013-07-11

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 0199989605

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The Peripheral Mind is the first monograph to discuss the philosophical relevance of the Peripheral Nervous System. It combines conceptual analysis, discussion of neuroscientific data, philosophical speculation, and first-person phenomenological accounts to solve a wide range of extant problems in the philosophy of mind.

Philosophers Explore The Matrix
Philosophers Explore The Matrix

Author: Christopher Grau

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 9780195181067

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The Matrix trilogy is unique among recent popular films in that it is constructed around important philosophical questions--classic questions which have fascinated philosophers and other thinkers for thousands of years. Editor Christopher Grau here presents a collection of new, intriguing essays about some of the powerful and ancient questions broached by The Matrix and its sequels, written by some of the most prominent and reputable philosophers working today. They provide intelligent, accessible, and thought-provoking examinations of the philosophical issues that support the films. Philosophers Explore The Matrix includes an introduction that surveys the use of philosophical ideas in the film. Topics that the contributors tackle include: how a collaborative dream could differ from hallucination, the difference between the Matrix and the "real" world; why living in the Matrix would be considered "bad"; the similarities between the Matrix and Plato's Cave; the moral status of artificially created beings, whether one can behave immorally in illusory circumstances, and the true nature of free will and responsibility. This volume also includes an appendix of classic philosophical writing on these issues by Plato, Berkeley, Descartes, Putnam, and Nozick. Philosophers Explore The Matrix will fascinate any fan of the films who wants to delve deeper into their themes, as well as any student of philosophy who desires an accessible entry into this challenging and profoundly vital world of ideas.