A five-minute guide to the debate by Rick Lewis. Modern philosophy of mind began with René Descartes (1596-1650) who argued that we each consist of two different entities: a material body subject to all the laws of physics and an immaterial mind, which isn’t. This theory is therefore known as Cartesian Dualism. He said that …
Vincent di Norcia applies his mental powers to Darwin’s moral theory. “There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers… from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have… evolved.” Charles Darwin, The Origin of Species, p.470. “Moral concepts are embodied in and partially constitutive of forms of …
Sherrie Lyons revisits Evolution and Ethics by Thomas Henry Huxley, Darwin’s most energetic defender and the coiner of the word ‘agnostic’. Calling himself ‘Darwin’s bulldog’, Thomas Huxley claimed he was prepared to go to the stake if necessary to defend Darwin’s theory of evolution. Nevertheless, he did not think the doctrine of evolution could give …
Tim Delaney relates how Herbert Spencer, inventor of the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’, originally applied evolutionary thinking to human society and culture. I cringe whenever I hear the term ‘social Darwinism’, and I ask myself (and my students) “Why do we use the term ‘social Darwinism’ when the works of Herbert Spencer already describe …
Mary Midgley meditates on mind and meaning among the mutations. Researchers report that people who are asked to give their reason for converting to Creationism often say that they have done so because they see it as the only possible alternative to ‘Darwinism’, which they equate with atheism and find intolerable. What does ‘Darwinism’ mean …
Alan Malachowski tries to unravel the philosophical mistakes which led to America’s recent boardroom catastrophes. Picture a small, but successful, philosophy department in a relatively new, but nevertheless rather old-fashioned, university. The members of staff are conscientious and industrious. Their students are well taught, and by all accounts well satisfied with their various courses. The …
Vincent Di Norcia theorizes how morality is generated by how the brain works. “The time has come for ethics to be removed temporarily from the hands of the philosophers and biologicized.”Edward O.Wilson, Sociobiology – A New Synthesis Why do animals have brains? In order to survive in uncertain, often threatening environments. Conscious sentience is helpful …
Namit Arora considers the complexity of consciousness and its implications for artificial intelligence. As a graduate student of computer engineering in the early 90s, I recall impassioned late night debates on whether machines can ever be intelligent – meaning, possessing the cognition, common sense, and problem-solving skills of ordinary humans. Scientists and bearded philosophers spoke …
Michael Langford talks about the language we use to talk about the mind and brain. Rejections of freewill have been common in recent philosophical debate (e.g., in Norman Bacrac’s article ‘Epiphenomenalism Explained’ in Philosophy Now 81). The question is, are the choices we make really free, or are they predetermined consequences of the laws of …
Laura Weed takes us on a tour of the mind/brain controversy. In the twentieth century philosophy of mind became one of the central areas of philosophy in the English-speaking world, and so it remains. Questions such as the relationship between mind and brain, the nature of consciousness, and how we perceive the world, have come …