February 15, 2008
Philosophy lecture Feb. 20 to address "Last Myth of the Mental"
WORCESTER, MA – Timothy Nulty, assistant professor at University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, will present a lecture on conceptualization and mental coping, titled “The Last Myth of the Mental,” at 4:15 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 20, in the Lurie Conference Room of the Higgins University Center, Clark University, 950 Main Street.
Professor Nulty will offer reasons for rejecting the “last myth of the mental,” most notably espoused by philosophy professors Hubert Dreyfus (University of California, Berkeley) and John McDowell (University of Pittsburgh). According to Nulty: The last myth of the mental is that our skillful use of concepts – our mental coping – is different in kind than our embodied coping. Both McDowell and Dreyfus are implicitly committed to this final myth, and this adherence explains, in part, the debate itself. Once we jettison the view that mental coping functions fundamentally differently than embodied coping, the debate is a non-starter.
Professor Nulty is a Clark University alumnus who graduated with highest honors in Philosophy in 1995. He received his Ph.D. in Philosophy at the University of Connecticut.
This free and public event is offered as part of the Philosophy Series at Clark. It is sponsored by the Higgins School of Humanities. For more information, call 508-793-7479.