March 10, 2008
Philosophy lecture to question ‘Mind as Matter’
The Philosophy Series will present "Mind as Matter: The New Physicalism," a lecture by Jacqueline Sullivan, assistant professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Reductive physicalism—the theory that mind is simply matter—has recently gained popularity in the Philosophy of the Mind against its longstanding rival, functionalism. The principal reason for this new trend is that contemporary neuroscience seems to have provided the data needed to make feasible reductive links between mind and brain.
In this lecture, Professor Sullivan investigates the strategies that reductive physicalists have advanced as opposed to functionalism. Using case studies from neuroscience, she demonstrates how such strategies fail.
This free and public event is offered as part of the Philosophy Series of Clark’s Higgins School of Humanities.
For more information, call x7479.