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Paul M. Churchland

Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind Revised Edition

by Paul M. Churchland (Author)

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In Matter and Consciousness, Paul Churchland clearly presents the advantages and disadvantages of such difficult issues in philosophy of mind as behaviorism, reductive materialism, functionalism, and eliminative materialism. This new edition incorporates the striking developments that have taken place in neuroscience, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence and notes their expanding relevance to philosophical issues.

Churchland organizes and clarifies the new theoretical and experimental results of the natural sciences for a wider philosophical audience, observing that this research bears directly on questions concerning the basic elements of cognitive activity and their implementation in real physical systems. (How is it, he asks, that living creatures perform some cognitive tasks so swiftly and easily, where computers do them only badly or not at all?) Most significant for philosophy, Churchland asserts, is the support these results tend to give to the reductive and the eliminative versions of materialism.

A Bradford Book

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0262530740
ISBN-13

978-0262530743
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Revised
Publisher

The MIT Press
Publication date

January 22, 1988
Language

English
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5.7 x 0.5 x 8.9 inches
Print length

196 pages
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Anyone interested in using a contemporary approach to philosophy of mind in an introductory course will find Paul Churchland's Matter and Consciousness a useful text.... Churchland has a wonderful talent for linking ideas together.

(Kathleen Gill Teaching Philosophy)

About the Author

Paul M. Churchland is Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at the University of California, San Diego. He is the author of The Engine of Reason, the Seat of the Soul, Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind (both published by the MIT Press), and other books.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press; Revised edition (January 22, 1988)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 196 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262530740
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262530743
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.7 x 0.5 x 8.9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #826,858 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,262 in Consciousness & Thought Philosophy
- #1,421 in Medical Cognitive Psychology
- #2,091 in Cognitive Psychology (Books)

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4.7 24 ratings

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Brian C.

A decent introduction to the philosophy of mind...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 18, 2013

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This book does its job fairly well. It is meant to be a basic introduction to debates within the philosophy of mind. I am not sure how up to date it is. My copy was printed in 2001, but I imagine that things are happening fairly fast in the world of cognitive science, philosophy of mind, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence. Unfortunately, philosophy of mind is not really my area of expertise so I am not qualified to determine whether it is totally up to date or not. The books that are listed in the "Further Reading" sections at the end of each chapter are rarely, if ever, more recent than the eighties, so that is one draw back to the book.

However, I do not think it really matters all that much how up to date it is. People who are looking for cutting edge theory should not be reading this book in the first place. That is not its function. The function of this book is to introduce readers to some of the major debates in the philosophy of mind, and most of the major positions within those debates. It is not meant to be a detailed analysis of the best current arguments for or against various positions, but rather a schematic outline of the major positions within the philosophy of mind. As a number of the reviewers have pointed out, many of the arguments presented for and against various positions are quite superficial and, I suspect, some of them are of the straw-man variety. But, like I said, I do not see that as a huge flaw since I do not think this book was meant to be at the cutting edge of current debates. Those who are looking for the best current arguments for or against various positions should probably look elsewhere. Those who are simply looking for a basic introduction to the various positions, or a basic orientation in the philosophy of mind, will, I think, benefit a great deal from reading this book.

What this book does do, quite well, is provide the reader with a general schema within which to fit various positions, and arguments, in the philosophy of mind. Churchland defines, for example, dualism, philosophical behaviorism, reductive materialism, functionalism, and eliminative materialism in the ontological chapter of the book. Having this very simple schema will then serve as a guide for those who wish to dive into more detailed, cutting edge research in the philosophy of mind. Churchland goes on to lay out the epistemological and methodological problems that arise in the philosophy of mind, he spends a chapter discussing artificial intelligence, and there is a nice, long chapter on neuroscience. The last chapter, on the distribution of intelligence in the universe, is short and interesting as well.

The book certainly has a number of flaws. The other reviewers have pointed some of them out. The summaries, and the arguments, are often pretty superficial. It is also clear that Churchland himself is biased towards eliminative materialism. Churchland does not really even make an effort to hide his preference for eliminative materialism. However, I do not think these flaws are all that important if the reader is primarily looking for a basic introduction to the philosophy of mind to guide their further research. Readers of this book will come away with a basic idea of the issues that are debated within the philosophy of mind, and the major, over-arching positions, within the philosophy of mind. Since that is what the book set out to do, I believe it is a success.

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The Professor

Good introduction to the philosophy of mind

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 1, 2013

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Churchland is one of the best thinkers in the philosophy of mind. While I do not necessarily agree with his eliminative materialism, he is a sharp thinker and brings a lot of good ideas to the table. As an experimental (not counseling) psychologist with an emphasis on neuroscience, I definitely appreciate his emphasis on the brain. This book is old, but it covers the basics of the philosophy of mind, introducing them with the benefit of the doubt, then turning to criticisms (including his own) of the views. He never comes across as forceful with his opinions.

I recommend it with the book A Historical Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind: Readings With Commentary (ISBN 1551118521 for the newest, or 1551110873 for the first edition which frankly doesn't differ much). This text is full of snippets of writings from the philosophy of mind from the earliest days of philosophy up to modern philosophy and the most recent contemporary issues. The writings are framed in historical context, and there is also commentary on the strengths and weaknesses of the views. Between Matter and Consciousness and the Historical Introduction, you'll be well educated in the philosophy of mind and can move onto such works as Neurophilosophy by Patricia Churchland or Dan Dennett or David Chalmer's books.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 28, 2019

No real issues

Concise and to the point

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 12, 2013

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Mr. Churchland has presented the information in a condensed and concise manner, providing for a great and easy reference source.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 9, 2016

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Great book!

Helpful

Pretty good introduction to a vexing problem

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 2, 2002

The mind-body problem, as it is called in Western philosophy, still has the attention of philosophers, despite centuries of debate. It will no doubt occupy more of philosophers time in the upcoming decades due to the resurging interest (and advances) in artificial intelligence. But the goal of most research in A.I. is now geared towards computational algorithms that are able to learn and can discover new knowledge or data patterns. The "hard A.I." problem, that of creating conscious machines, is not top priority it seems.
But philosophers will continue with the analysis of the nature of conscious intelligence, and the author is one of these. Interestingly though, and correctly, he asserts that progress in this analysis has been made, and he notes that philosophy has joined hands with psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, ethology, and evolutionary theory in making this progress. And this will no doubt continue as advances in these fields are made, and the 21st century will see the advent of the "industrial philosopher". Once thought to be a purely academic profession, the ethical considerations behind genetic engineering and the legal rights of thinking machines will require the presence of philosophers in the rank and file of engineers, technicians, and managers. And because of this, these philosophers, and their coworkers will themselves have considerable knowledge outside their own field.
Again, the refreshing feature of this book is that the author believes that philosophy has made considerable process on the nature of mind. This was done, he says, by understanding the mind's self-knowledge, by providing a much clearer idea of the nature of the different theories of mind, and by clarifying the sorts of evidence that must be acquired in order to distinguish between these different theories. Empirical evidence, he states, has enabled the making of these distinctions much more rational and scientific. But he is careful to note that the evidence is still ambigious, and much work still needs to be done before the these ideas can be differentiated with more clarity. He discusses in detail the different theories of dualism and materialism. An entire chapter is devoted to discussing substance dualism, property dualism, philosophical behaviorism, reductive materialism, functionalism, and eliminative materialism. The author asks readers to start anew and throw away their convictions while analyzing these conceptions of mind and matter.
For the author, the mind-body problem cannot be solved without considering three problems: 1. Semantical: The meaning of ordinary common-sense terms for mental states. 2. Epistemological: The problem of other minds and the capacity for introspection. 3. Methodological: The proper methodology to use in constructing a theory of mind. Entire chapters are devoted to these, and after reading them the reader entering the debate on the mind-body problem for the first time will have an over-abundance of food for thought.
An entire chapter is spent on the topic of artificial intelligence. If this book were updated, this chapter would probably have to be considerably expanded, in that many advances have been made in A.I. since this book was first published. Research in A.I. has been rocky, and many promises that were unfullfilled were made in the past about it. But now it seems a more rational and realistic attitude is taken about the claims of A.I. Most everyone involved in it understands that it is an enormously complex problem, and have concentrated their efforts on building intelligent machines from a piece-meal, microscopic approach, i.e. from solving the simplest problems first before tackling the more difficult ones.
A chapter is also devoted to neuroscience. Thanks to imaging technologies and other approaches to mapping the brain, this field has mushroomed in recent years. The author only gives a cursory overview of the brain and the nervous system in this chapter, due no doubt to lack of space. The reverse engineering of the human brain has been pointed to by some researchers in artificial intelligence as being the best hope for building intelligent machines. The dramatic increases in chip technology and bus design have made this belief certainly more feasible. It remains to be seen, via actual empirical research, whether the reverse engineering of the human brain, and then its subsequent implementation in electronic devices, will indeed result in the rise of intelligent machines.
Whatever the future of artificial intelligence and neuroscience, the mind-body problem will no doubt be of interest to philosophers for decades to come. It will be fascinating to see what kinds of conceptual frameworks and methodologies will be employed in attempts to solve this problem. Without doubt some new ideas would be welcome in this regard, as proposals for solutions to the mind-body problem seem to be stuck in a local minimum. But, as the author argues well for, the solution will bring in many areas and possibly some radical ideas, all supported by painstaking experimentation.

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buse ovunc soydan

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 6, 2017

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Excellent

Trevor Dunn

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on April 9, 2015

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Presents a very clearly written insight into the Philosophy of the Mind and Consciousness.

SA

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Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 28, 2015

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Excellent buy!!!

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