Naturalizing the Mind (Jean Nicod Lectures) [Paperback]

Fred Dretske (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1997 | Series: Jean Nicod Lectures

How can the baffling problems of phenomenal experience be accounted for? In this provocative book, Fred Dretske argues that to achieve an understanding of the mind it is not enough to understand the biological machinery by means of which the mind does its job. One must understand what the mind's job is and how this task can be performed by a physical system--the nervous system.Naturalizing the Mind skillfully develops a representational theory of the qualitative, the phenomenal, the what-it-is-like aspects of the mind that have defied traditional forms of naturalism. Central to Dretske's approach is the claim that the phenomenal aspects of perceptual experiences are one and the same as external, real-world properties that experience represents objects as having. Combined with an evolutionary account of sensory representation, the result is a completely naturalistic account of phenomenal consciousness.* Not for sale in France or Belgium

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Frank Popper is Professor Emeritus of Aesthetics and the Science of Art at the University of Paris VIII. He is the author of Origins and Development of Kinetic Art, Art, Action, and Participation, Art of the Electronic Age, and other influential works on art and technology.

Fred Dretske is Senior Research Scholar in the Department of Philosophy, Duke University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: A Bradford Book (August 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262540894
• ISBN-13: 978-0262540896
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,483,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The good, the bad and the ugly, July 27, 2007

By 

Randall McCutcheon (Bexley, OH) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Naturalizing the Mind (Jean Nicod Lectures) (Paperback)

In terms of quality, this book is a real mixed bag. The first third is genuinely good. Dretske lays out his subject matter quite well, making some very good distinctions, such as systemic vs. acquired representations, doxastic vs. phenomenal appearances, etc. His discussion about the role of representations in transmitting information is pretty damn right on.

The next third, though.... Generally speaking, I have very little patience for externalist viewpoints, even about something as ontologically gossamer as, say, meaning. Dretske, to be brief, is an externalist about phenomenality (as far as I can tell). He's led to this by his viewpoints on how phenomenality is intimately related to representationality. I think this is just insane. Representation has the approximate ontological status of meaning, or numbers...phenomenality has a far more solid ontological status than, well, anything.

Finally, in the last third, Dretske says some things that are frankly ugly. Among these are that awareness of our phenomenal states is limited by our conceptual resources (not awareness that they are blah blah blah, but just awareness of--if this were true by the way, consciousness could have no role in concept formation), and that there is no real mystery about the function of consciousness because it's just obvious that awareness increases fitness. I had a hard time believing I had read that part, actually. It would be as though someone were to "explain" the stickiness of pollen by saying "sticky pollen is more apt to make it to another plant and reproduce sexually" -- i.e. with no mention of bees.