"THE PERSISTENCE OF THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM": ein Vortrag von Prof. Mario Bunge

Wien (OTS) - The mind-body problem has been discussed for three millennia. At least five answers to it have been proposed: (a) mind is immaterial and rules over matter; (b) mental processes are brain processes;(c) mind and matter have separate existences and are parallel to one another; (d) mind and brain are separate but interact with one another; (e) there is only one kind of entity, which is neither material nor spiritual but neutral.

I submit that (a) each of the above theses should be examined along with the ontological (metaphysical) system they belong to, rather than in isolation; and (b) each doctrine on the nature of he mental should be evaluated by its heuristic value.

I also suggest that the materialist thesis first proposed by Alcmaeon is the one inherent in cognitive neuroscience, whereas the view that the mind is a set of computer programs is a version of Platonism and moreover incapable of explaining spontaneity and creativity, as well as devoid of interest to the mental health professionals. I also claim that this thesis is not to be confused with eliminative materialism, the thesis that there are no mental processes. Finally, I argue that the contemporary science of the mind is not a chapter of biology, but a result of the fusion of several sciences: that it is psycho-neuro-immuno-endocrino-sociology.

Vortrag "THE PERSISTENCE OF THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM"

PROF. MARIO BUNGE, PHD, FRSC
Professor Emeritus in Philosophy
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Datum: 24.4.2014, um 18:30 Uhr

Ort:
Öst. Forschungsinstitut für Artificial Intelligence(OFAI)
Freyung 6/6/7, 1010 Wien

Url: www.ofai.at

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Prof. Dr. Robert Trappl
robert.trappl@ofai.at
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