Cartographies of the Mind

The present book is a collection of essays exploring some classical dimensions of mind both from the perspective of an empirically-informed philosophy and from the point of view of a philosophically-informed psychology.

In the last three decades, the level of interaction between philosophy and psychology has increased dramatically. As a contribution to this trend, this book explores some areas in which this interaction has been very productive - or, at least, highly provocative.

The interaction between philosophy and psychology can be of different kinds. For example, psychology can be the subject for philosophy of science. In such a case, the philosopher of science pursues the usual set of issues (explanation, reduction, etc.) within the special case of psychology. Or, philosophy can be the source of proposals for improving psychology. Vice versa, the findings of psychology can be used to criticize philosophical theories and suggest ways to resolve some traditional philosophical questions about the mind, such as the nature of mental representation, perception, emotion, memory, consciousness and free will.

The chapters in this book reflect these different forms of interaction in an effort to clarify issues and debates concerning some traditional cognitive capacities. The result is a philosophically and scientifically up-to-date collection of "cartographies of the mind".

Résumé

In the last three decades, the level of interaction between philosophy and psychology has increased dramatically. As a contribution to this trend, this book explores some areas in which this interaction has been very productive or, at least, highly provocative.

The interaction between philosophy and psychology can be of different kinds. For example, psychology can be the subject for philosophy of science. In such a case, the philosopher of science pursues the usual set of issues (explanation, reduction, etc.) within the special case of psychology. Or, philosophy can be the source of proposals for improving psychology. Vice versa, the findings of psychology can be used to criticize philosophical theories and suggest ways to resolve some traditional philosophical questions about the mind, such as the nature of mental representation, perception, emotion, memory, consciousness and free will.

The chapters in this book reflect these different forms of interaction in an effort to clarify issues and debates concerning some traditional cognitive capacities. The result is a philosophically and scientifically up-to-date collection of "cartographies of the mind".

Contenu

The Interplay of Levels.- Setting the Stage: Persons, Minds and Brains.- Computational Explanation and Mechanistic Explanation of Mind.- Computationalism Under Attack.- Dimensions of Mind.- Vision Science and the Problem of Perception.- Synaesthesia, Functionalism and Phenomenology.- Integrating the Philosophy and Psychology of Memory: Two Case Studies.- Emotion and Cognition: A New Map of the Terrain.- Categorization and Concepts: A Methodological Framework.- Errors in Deductive Reasoning.- Language and Comprehension Processes.- Dimensions of Agency.- The Unconscious.- Self-Deception and Hypothesis Testing.- Autonomous Agency and Social Psychology.- The Cognitive Role of Phenomenal Consciousness.- The Unity of Consciousness: A Cartography.- Extended Cognition and the Unity of Mind. Why We are Not "Spread into the World".- Extreme Self-Denial.- Empirical Psychology, Transcendental Phenomenology, and the Self.- How to Deal with the Free Will Issue: The Roles of Conceptual Analysis and Empirical Science.- The Beliefs of Mute Animals.- Naive Psychology and Simulations.- The Social Mind.- Social Behaviors and Brain Interventions: New Strategies for Reductionists.