Emergence in Mind

by Macdonald, Cynthia; Macdonald, Graham

• ISBN13: 9780199583621
• ISBN10: 0199583625
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2010-06-25
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

There have long been controversies about how it is that minds can fit into a physical universe.Emergence in Mindpresents new essays by a distinguished group of philosophers investigating whether mental properties can be said to 'emerge' from the physical processes in the universe. Such emergence requires mental properties to be different from physical properties, and much of the discussion relates to what the consequences of such a difference might be in areas such as freedom of the will, and the possibility of scientific explanations of non-physical (for example, social) phenomena. The volume also extends the debate about emergence by considering the independence of chemical properties from physical properties, and investigating what would need to be the case for there to be groups that could be said to exercise rationality.

Author Biography

Cynthia Macdonald is Professor of Philosophy at Queen's University Belfast and Emeritus and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand.
Graham Macdonald is Distinguished International Fellow in the Institute of Cognition and Culture at Queen's University Belfast and Emeritus and Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	p. vii
Introduction	p. 1
Cosmic Hermeneutics vs. Emergence: The Challenge of the Explanatory Gap	p. 22
Explanation, Emergence, and Causality: Comments on Crane	p. 35
Is Non-reductive Physicalism Viable within a Causal Powers Metaphysic?	p. 43
Exclusion and Physicalism: Comments on O'Connor and Churchill	p. 61
Emergent Causation and Property Causation	p. 69
Emergence: Laws and Properties: Comments on Noordhof	p. 100
The Causal Autonomy of the Special Sciences	p. 108
Causal and Explanatory Autonomy: Comments on Menzies and List	p. 129
Emergence and Downward Causation	p. 139
Identity with a Difference: Comments on Macdonald and Macdonald	p. 169
Can Any Sciences Be Special?	p. 179
Can Any Sciences be Special? Comments on Papineau	p. 198
Emergence vs. Reduction in Chemistry	p. 205
An Emergentist's Perspective on the Problem of Free Will	p. 222
Strong Emergence and Freedom: Comments on Stephan	p. 240
Rationality, Reasoning, and Group Agency	p. 252
Index	p. 277
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