The Escape of the Mind is part of a current movement in psychology and philosophy of mind that calls into question what is perhaps our most basic, most cherished, and universally accepted belief--that our minds are inside of our bodies. Howard Rachlin adopts the counterintuitive position that our minds, conscious and unconscious, lie not where our firmest (yet unsupported) introspections tell us they are, but in how we actually behave over the long run. Perhaps paradoxically, the book argues that our introspections, no matter how positive we are about them, tell us absolutely nothing about our minds. The name of the present version of this approach to the mind is "teleological behaviorism."
The approaches of teleological behaviorism will be useful in the science of individual behavior for developing methods of self-control and in the science of social behavior for developing social cooperation. Without in any way denigrating the many contributions of neuroscience to human welfare, The Escape of the Mind argues that neuroscience, like introspection, is not a royal road to the understanding of the mind. Where then should we look to explain a present act that is clearly caused by the mind? Teleological behaviorism says to look not in the spatial recesses of the nervous system (not to the mechanism underlying the act) but in the temporal recesses of past and future overt behavior (to the pattern of which the act is a part).
But scientific usefulness is not the only reason for adopting teleological behaviorism. The final two chapters on IBM's computer, Watson (how it deviates from humanity and how it would have to be altered to make it human), and on shaping a coherent self, provide a framework for a secular morality based on teleological behaviorism.
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The Escape of the Mind argues that, in developing techniques of self-control and social cooperation, it is useful to question the almost universally accepted belief that our minds exist inside our bodies. We should look for our minds neither in our introspections nor in our brains, but in our long-term behavioral patterns.
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Acknowledgements ; Preface ; 1. The Invention of the Mind (Plato) ; 2. Mind and Body (Aristotle) ; 3. The Separation of Mind And Body (Saint Augustine) ; 4. The Imprisonment of the Mind (Descartes) ; 5. The Law of Specific Nerve Energies (Muller) ; 6. The Re-Emergence of the Mind: Extended cognition ; 7. The Evolution of Altruism And Self-Control ; 8. Teleological Analysis of Altruism And Self-Control ; 9. Consciousness and Behavior ; 10. How To Make IBM's Computer Watson Human ; Two commentaries: ; From contemporary philosophy of mind (McDowell) ; From radical behaviorism (Schlinger) ; Author's reply ; 11. Shaping the Coherent Self: A Moral Achievement
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Selling point: Proposes a unique philosophical approach, teleological behaviorism, that places the mind wholly outside of the body, contradicting what our introspections tell us "must" be the case.
Selling point: Contends that that the human mind was conceived by ancient Greek philosophers as an ecological niche for complex human behavior.
Selling point: Emphasizes the mind as embodying behavioral patterns extended in time.
Selling point: Asserts that the mental context of a given behavioral finding is not to be found by opening up the brain or through MRI imaging, but rather in the past and future patterns of overt behavior of which the behavioral finding is a part.
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Howard Rachlin was trained as an engineer at Cooper Union and as a psychologist at The New School University and Harvard University. He has taught at Harvard University and at Stony Brook University. His current research, supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, lies in the development of methods for fostering human self-control and social cooperation.
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Selling point: Proposes a unique philosophical approach, teleological behaviorism, that places the mind wholly outside of the body, contradicting what our introspections tell us "must" be the case.
Selling point: Contends that that the human mind was conceived by ancient Greek philosophers as an ecological niche for complex human behavior.
Selling point: Emphasizes the mind as embodying behavioral patterns extended in time.
Selling point: Asserts that the mental context of a given behavioral finding is not to be found by opening up the brain or through MRI imaging, but rather in the past and future patterns of overt behavior of which the behavioral finding is a part.
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Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9780199322350
Publisert
2014
Utgiver
Vendor
Oxford University Press Inc
Vekt
431 gr
Høyde
239 mm
Bredde
160 mm
Dybde
25 mm
Aldersnivå
UP, 05
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Innbundet
Antall sider
240
Forfatter