Identity (Identity)

by dhw, Saturday, August 29, 2009, 11:53 (5564 days ago) @ David Turell

David has recommended an article by William G. Lycan on materialism vs. Cartesian dualism: www.uncommondescent.com, to be located at the word SOURCE. - Lycan is a self-confessed materialist on this subject, but the essay is extremely helpful and beautifully balanced. I hope everyone will read it. Here are two sample quotes to illustrate the fairness of his approach: - "To anyone uncontaminated by neuroscience or materialist philosophizing, the mental does not seem physical in any way at all, much less neurophysiological. The parsimony argument does not even come in the door until it is agreed that we can find nothing to distinguish mental states from neurophysiological ones. And the latter will not be agreed any time soon." - "I mean to have shown here that although Cartesian dualism faces some serious objections, that does not distinguish it from other philosophical theories, and the objections are not an order of magnitude worse than those confronting materialism in particular." - Once more, many thanks to David for this reference.