ENGLISH

Causality, Interpretation, and the Mind

By William Child

Book information

Publisher
Oxford University Press, USA
Year
1996
ISBN
9780198236252, 0198236255, 0198239785, 9780198239789, 9780191519536
LCC
BD418.3 .C455 1994
Open Library ID
OL1425586M
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
893 kB (914555 bytes)
Series
Oxford Philosophical Monographs
Pages
248\245
Time added
2011-04-20 14:05:05

Description

Philosophers of mind have long been interested in the relation between two ideas: that causality plays an essential role in our understanding of the mental; and that we can gain an understanding of belief and desire by considering the ascription of attitudes to people on the basis of what they say and do. Many have thought that those ideas are incompatible. William Child argues that there is in fact no tension between them, and that we should accept both. He shows how we can have a causal understanding of the mental without having to see attitudes and experiences as internal, causally interacting entities and he defends this view against influential objections. The book offers detailed discussions of many of Donald Davidson's contributions to the philosophy of mind, and also considers the work of Dennett, Anscombe, McDowell, and Rorty, among others. Issues discussed include: the nature of intentional phenomena; causal explanation; the character of visual experience; psychological explanation; and the causal relevance of mental properties.

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