Author: Shapiro, Lawrence A.
Title: The Mind Incarnate
Description: Cambridge [MA], MIT Press, (2004). orig.cloth. 24x15cm, xvi,253 pp. Series: Life and Mind: Philosophical Issues in Biology and Psychology.. Minor rubbing. VG. dustwrapper. ¶ How are the mind and body harnessed together? In The Mind Incarnate Lawrence Shapiro addresses this question by subjecting to test two widely accepted hypotheses, the multiple realisability thesis and the separability thesis. He argues that there is signficicant - though far from decisive - evidence against them. While contemporary philosophers no longer view the mind as a supernatural entity - the famous "Ghost in the Machine" dogma that Gilbert Ryle ridiculed over fifty years ago - Shapiro argues that naturalistic approaches to understanding the mind retain their own naturalised varieties of ghosts. In particular, the multiple realisability thesis holds the connection between human minds and human brains is in some sense accidental: the tie between mental properties and neural properties is not physically necessary. According to the separability thesis, the mind is a largely autonomous component residing in the body that contributes little to its functioning. Shapiro tests these hypotheses against two rivals, the mental constraint thesis and the embodied mind thesis. Collecting evidence from a variety of sources (e.g. neuroscience, evolutionary theory, and embodied cogntion) he In contrast to views of mind that tempt us to see the mind as simply being resident in a brain or body, Shapiro argues for a far more encompassing integration of mind, brain, and body than philosophers have supposed" - Publisher's description.

Keywords: Philosophy of Mind, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, Cognition, Psychology, , , ,