Objectivity, Simulation and the Unity of Consciousness

by Peacocke, Christopher

• ISBN13: 9780197261675
• ISBN10: 0197261671
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-07-01
• Publisher: British Academy

Summary

What is it to be capable of thoughts about an objective world? What is involved in the unity of consciousness? How is the ability to attribute attitudes to other persons to be understood? The three symposia in this volume develop new approaches to these central questions in the philosophy of mind. The contributors include leading philosophers of the middle and younger generation working in Britain. All the issues discussed have an interdisciplinary dimension, and each symposium contains a contribution from a noted psychologist working in the same field. The volume will be of interest not only to philosophers of mind, but also to those concerned with metaphysics, epistemology, developmental pscychology, animal psychology, and the nature of consciousness.

Table of Contents

Notes on Contributors	vii
Preface	ix
Introduction The Issues and their Further Development	xi
Christopher Peacocke
I. OBJECTIVE THOUGHT
Objects and Objectivity	3	(18)
John Campbell
Commentaries
Thoughts about Objects, Places and Times	21	(14)
Bill Brewer
Cognitive Maps, Time and Causality	35	(14)
John O'Keefe
II. OBJECTIVITY AND THE UNITY OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Unity and Objectivity	49	(30)
Susan Hurley
Commetaries
What is Relevant to the Unity of Consciousness?	79	(10)
Anthony Marcel
Issues of Unity and Objectivity	89	(10)
Michael Lockwood
III. UNDERSTANDING THE MENTAL: THEORY OR SIMULATION?
The Mental Simulation Debate	99	(30)
Martin Davies
Commentaries
Simulation vs. Theory Theory: What is at Issue?	129	(16)
Jane Heal
The Necessity and Impossibility of Simulation	145	(10)
Josef Perner
Bibliography	155	(6)
Name Index	161