The Ontology of Mind

Events, Processes, and States

By: Helen Steward

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Hardcover | 1 May 1997

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Hardcover
288 Pages

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21.59 x 13.97 x 2.06

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Helen Steward puts forward a radical critique of the foundations of contemporary philosophy of mind, arguing that it relies too heavily on insecure assumptions about the nature of some sorts of mental entities it postulates -- the nature of events, processes, and states. She offers a fresh investigation of these three categories, clarifying the distinction between them, and argues specifically that the assumption that states can be treated as particular, event-like entities has been a huge and serious mistake. Steward argues that the category of 'token state' should be rejected, and develops an alternative way of understanding those varieties of causal explanation which have sometimes been thought to require an ontology of token states for their education. She contends that many current theories of mind are rendered unintelligible once it is seen how these explanations really work. A number of prominent features of contemporary philosophy of mind -- token identity theories, the functionist's conception of token role, a common form of argument for eliminative materialism, and the structure of the debate about the efficacy of mental content-- are impugned by her arguments. Steward concludes that the modern mind-body problem needs to be substantially rethought.

Industry Reviews

`Throughout, the book is rich in stimulating ideas and detailed, often quite intricate arguments.' Mind, vol. 110, no. 440 `This ambitious and thoughtful book targets widely held views in contemporary philosophy of mind about the ontological underpinnings of our ordinary, folk-psychological attributions fo mental states. Philosophers of mind would profit from responding to the challenge it presents. But the book's audience extends well beyond that field.' Mind, vol. 110, no. 440 `her book is a notable contribution to current debates, and, more broadly, to general metaphysics. It is full of thought-provoking ideas and, though not easy to read by any means, will amply reward anyone willing to give it a close study.' Jaegwon Kim, Times Literary Supplement

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Introduction	p. 1
Events and Processes	p. 17
Events, Particularity, and Properties	p. 19
Kim: Exemplifications of Properties at Times	p. 21
Property Exemplifications and Theories of Mind	p. 28
Particularity and the Secret Life Requirement	p. 35
Bennett: Events as Tropes	p. 41
Bennett's Argument against Anomalous Monism	p. 44
Events as Changes	p. 56
Happenings	p. 57
Events as Changes in Objects	p. 58
Is there a Motivation for the RCO?	p. 61
Composite Events and the Composition Relation	p. 65
Are there Changeless Events?	p. 69
States and Change	p. 72
The Temporal Strategy: Time and Aspect	p. 75
Vendler and Kenny	p. 78
Types of Verb versus Types of Predication	p. 82
Aspect	p. 84
Nominalization Transcriptions: Events and Processes	p. 88
Non-paradigmatic Events	p. 92
Event and Process as Ontological Categories	p. 94
Temporal Shape	p. 97
States, Causation, and Causal Explanation	p. 103
States and the Type-Token Distinction	p. 105
States and Properties	p. 107
Nominalization Transcriptions: States	p. 110
The 'State of ...' Locution	p. 115
The Type-Token Distinction	p. 120
Token States in Philosophy of Mind	p. 127
Particulars, Facts, and Causal Explanations	p. 135
Forms of Causal Explanation	p. 139
Singular Causal Claims	p. 141
Sentential Causal Explanations	p. 146
The Existential Generalization Account	p. 153
Causation and Causal Explanation	p. 163
Efficacy, Causing, and Relevance	p. 168
Child on Causation and Causal Explanation	p. 169
Program and Process Explanations	p. 186
Sentential Explanations as Program Explanations	p. 192
Why there are no Causally Efficacious Properties	p. 197
States and Causality in Philosophy of Mind	p. 203
The Network Model of Causation in Philosophy of Mind	p. 205
The Network Model of Causation	p. 206
What's Wrong with the Network Model of Causation?	p. 213
The Network Model in Philosophy of Mind	p. 221
Causal Relevance and Isomorphism	p. 225
Token Identity Theories	p. 232
Understanding Identity Statements	p. 235
Token State Identities and the Network Model of Causation	p. 242
Eliminativism and the Problem of Epiphenomenalism	p. 247
Two Characterizations of Eliminativism	p. 248
An Argument for Eliminativism	p. 250
The Problem of Epiphenomenalism	p. 254
The Solution to the Problem of Epiphenomenalism	p. 257
Concluding Remarks	p. 263
References	p. 265
Index	p. 271
Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved.

The Ontology of Mind

Events, Processes, and States

At a Glance

Hardcover

Industry Reviews

Shipping

How to return your order

Defective items

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