Consciousness and Its Place in Nature: Does Physicalism Entail Panpsychism? - Softcover

Galen Strawson; Peter Carruthers; Frank Jackson; William G. Lycan; Colin McGinn; David Papineau; Georges Rey; J.J.C. Smart; Et Al.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845400593 ISBN 13: 9781845400590

Publisher: Imprint Academic, 2006

Synopsis

For the last five years philosopher Galen Strawson has provoked a mixture of shock and scepticism with his carefully argued case that physicalism (the view that every real, concrete phenomenon in the universe is physical) entails panpsychism (the view that the existence of every real concrete thing involves experiential being). In this book Strawson provides the fullest and most careful statement of his position to date, throwing down the gauntlet to his critics ― including Peter Carruthers, Frank Jackson, David Rosenthal and J.J.C. Smart ― by inviting them to respond in print. The book concludes with Strawson's response to his commentators. Galen Strawson's books include Mental Reality, The Self? and Freedom and Belief.

About this title

About the Author:

Galen Strawson currently holds the President's Chair in Philosophy, University of Texas at Austin.

Review:

"The final essay is an impressive piece of work, setting out 36 metaphysical and four epistemological theses, and in reframing Descartes as a fellow panpsychist rather than a substance dualist."

(Scientific and Medical Network)

"Strawson had me immediately running a high fever... he gives so many of my cherished 'materialist' assumptions a hard time... I panic at the very thought of what he would have to say about my paraphrase."

(T.J. Clark ARTFORUM)

"The book is very rich... It is very rare for a book with this sort of format to be so complete a success, or so much fun to read... If you want an idea of just how hard the hard problem is, and just how strange things can look when you face its hardness without flinching, this is the right book to read."

(Jerry Fodor London Review of Books)

"Bold and provocative... Strawson defends and develops his position while adding a historical dimension... unusually interesting reading."

(Barry Dainton Times Literary Supplement)

"Essential reading for anyone interested in the hard problem... a testimony to Strawson's standing on the problem of consciousness."

(Christian Onof Journal of Mind & Behavior)

About this edition

• Publisher: Imprint Academic
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 1845400593
• ISBN 13: 9781845400590
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 282
• Editor: Anthony Freeman