Philosopher Angus Menuge on why traditional physicalism isn’t really working

Angus Menuge

Some philosophers today claim that the mind is simply what the brain does; a newer group thinks the mind emerges from the brain but is not simply the brain. Angus Menuge of Concordia University explains:

And it’s interesting that, over time, thinkers have moved more and more in non-reductionist directions. More and more they use the language of emergence…

And, it’s amazing, now there are positions endorsed which would have seemed quite desperate, such as panpsychism, the idea that maybe everything physical has something mind-like about it. Eventually, mind-like properties emerge. An extraordinary proliferation of theories and about the only thing that people can agree on in philosophy of mind is that they all seem to have serious difficulties and are unsatisfactory in one way rather than another.

News, “How have various thinkers tried to solve the mind–body problem? ” at Mind Matters News

The shift toward emergentism will probably begin to affect debates over evolution. Evolution theories based on physicalism will likely face challenges from unexpected quarters.

Here are the earlier parts of the series:

Part 1: How do we know we are not just physical bodies? The mind–body problem is one of the most difficult issues in modern philosophy. Philosopher Angus Menuge cites the immateriality and indivisibility of the mind and discusses the evidence from near-death experiences.

Part 2: If the mind and body are so different, how can they interact? A look at different models of the mind–body problem. Angus Menuge asks, Why should wanting a drink of milk produce physical changes like opening the fridge? It’s a harder question than many think.

Copyright © 2021 Uncommon Descent . This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement UNLESS EXPLICIT PERMISSION OTHERWISE HAS BEEN GIVEN. Please contact legal@uncommondescent.com so we can take legal action immediately.
Plugin by Taragana