书名: A Place for Consciousness: Probing the Deep Structure of the Natural World (Philosophy of Mind Series)
作者: Gregg Rosenberg (Author)
出版社: Oxford University Press, USA (November 18, 2004)
语言: English
ISBN-10: 0195168143
ISBN-13: 978-0195168143
Book Description
What place does consciousness have in the natural world? If we reject materialism, could there be a credible alternative? In one classic example, philosophers ask whether we can ever know what is it is like for bats to sense the world using sonar. It seems obvious to many that any amount of information about a bat's physical structure and information processing leaves us guessing about the central questions concerning the character of its experience.
A Place for Consciousness begins with reflections on the existence of this gap. Is it just a psychological shortcoming in our merely human understanding of the physical world? Is it a trivial consequence of the simple fact that we just cannot be bats? Or does it mean there really are facts about consciousness over and above the physical facts? If so, what does consciousness do? Why does it exist?
Rosenberg sorts out these problems, especially those centering on the causal role of consciousness. He introduces a new paradigm called Liberal Naturalism for thinking about what causation is, about the natural world, and about how to create a detailed model to go along with the new paradigm. Arguing that experience is part of the categorical foundations of causality, he shows that within this new paradigm there is a place for something essentially like consciousness in all its traditional mysterious respects.
A striking feature of Liberal Naturalism is that its central tenets are motivated independently of the mind-body problem, by analyzing causation itself. Because of this approach, when consciousness shows up in the picture it is not introduced in an ad hoc way, and its most puzzling features can be explained from first principles. Ultimately, Rosenberg's final solution gives consciousness a causally important role without supposing either that it is physical or that it interacts with the physical.
Review
"A Place for Consciousness is strikingly original, clearly written, tightly argued and does an excellent job of presenting a very distinctive, fascinating and promising account of causation and consciousness...Rosenberg's work is very refreshing; it takes a genuinely new approach without sacrificing the kind of 'rigour' and clear argumentation which is the backbone of analytic philosophy." -- William E. Seager, University of Toronto at Scarborough
"A Place for Consciousness adopts a unified approach to the metaphysics of consciousness and causation, on which consciousness is intimately linked to the basis of causation in the physical world. Rosenberg develops his fascinating view with ingenuity and precision. Philosophers of mind and metaphysicians will learn much from a close study of this remarkable book." -- Torin Alter, The University of Alabama
"Gregg Rosenberg systematically explores the idea that consciousness is tied to an inner aspect of processes that science normally studies only from the outside. He develops this idea in unprecedented depth and detail, laying out an original theory of the roots of consciousness in the intrinsic nature of causation. The book is full of fresh ideas in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. The result is a significant work of philosophy that makes compelling reading for anyone interested in the place of consciousness in nature." -- David J. Chalmers, University of Arizona
About the Author
After receiving his Ph.D. in philosophy and cognitive science at Indiana University, where his dissertation on consciousness earned the Distinguished Research Award from Indiana's interdisciplinary Cognitive Science program, Gregg Rosenberg was a Fetzer Fellow at the Artificial Intelligence Center of the University of Georgia. In 1999 he applied for a patent on a new technology and started his own venture capital funded company, which he sold in 2001. Returning to his first love, the problem of consciousness, he devoted himself to finishing A Place for Consciousness.
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作者: Gregg Rosenberg (Author)
出版社: Oxford University Press, USA (November 18, 2004)
语言: English
ISBN-10: 0195168143
ISBN-13: 978-0195168143
Book Description
What place does consciousness have in the natural world? If we reject materialism, could there be a credible alternative? In one classic example, philosophers ask whether we can ever know what is it is like for bats to sense the world using sonar. It seems obvious to many that any amount of information about a bat's physical structure and information processing leaves us guessing about the central questions concerning the character of its experience.
A Place for Consciousness begins with reflections on the existence of this gap. Is it just a psychological shortcoming in our merely human understanding of the physical world? Is it a trivial consequence of the simple fact that we just cannot be bats? Or does it mean there really are facts about consciousness over and above the physical facts? If so, what does consciousness do? Why does it exist?
Rosenberg sorts out these problems, especially those centering on the causal role of consciousness. He introduces a new paradigm called Liberal Naturalism for thinking about what causation is, about the natural world, and about how to create a detailed model to go along with the new paradigm. Arguing that experience is part of the categorical foundations of causality, he shows that within this new paradigm there is a place for something essentially like consciousness in all its traditional mysterious respects.
A striking feature of Liberal Naturalism is that its central tenets are motivated independently of the mind-body problem, by analyzing causation itself. Because of this approach, when consciousness shows up in the picture it is not introduced in an ad hoc way, and its most puzzling features can be explained from first principles. Ultimately, Rosenberg's final solution gives consciousness a causally important role without supposing either that it is physical or that it interacts with the physical.
Review
"A Place for Consciousness is strikingly original, clearly written, tightly argued and does an excellent job of presenting a very distinctive, fascinating and promising account of causation and consciousness...Rosenberg's work is very refreshing; it takes a genuinely new approach without sacrificing the kind of 'rigour' and clear argumentation which is the backbone of analytic philosophy." -- William E. Seager, University of Toronto at Scarborough
"A Place for Consciousness adopts a unified approach to the metaphysics of consciousness and causation, on which consciousness is intimately linked to the basis of causation in the physical world. Rosenberg develops his fascinating view with ingenuity and precision. Philosophers of mind and metaphysicians will learn much from a close study of this remarkable book." -- Torin Alter, The University of Alabama
"Gregg Rosenberg systematically explores the idea that consciousness is tied to an inner aspect of processes that science normally studies only from the outside. He develops this idea in unprecedented depth and detail, laying out an original theory of the roots of consciousness in the intrinsic nature of causation. The book is full of fresh ideas in metaphysics and the philosophy of mind. The result is a significant work of philosophy that makes compelling reading for anyone interested in the place of consciousness in nature." -- David J. Chalmers, University of Arizona
About the Author
After receiving his Ph.D. in philosophy and cognitive science at Indiana University, where his dissertation on consciousness earned the Distinguished Research Award from Indiana's interdisciplinary Cognitive Science program, Gregg Rosenberg was a Fetzer Fellow at the Artificial Intelligence Center of the University of Georgia. In 1999 he applied for a patent on a new technology and started his own venture capital funded company, which he sold in 2001. Returning to his first love, the problem of consciousness, he devoted himself to finishing A Place for Consciousness.
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