Uncategorized — The Brains Blog

Neurocognitive Mechanisms: Explaining Biological Cognition

Gualtiero Piccinini June 9, 2018 November 25, 2022 Mindcraft / Uncategorized

I just completed a fairly polished draft of a new book, entitled Neurocognitive Mechanisms: Explaining Biological Cognition. It gives a comprehensive defense of a computational theory of cognition updated for the era of cognitive neuroscience, including ontological foundations, with surprises for both supporters and critics of traditional computational theories of …

CFP: Essays in Philosophy issue on “The Philosophy of Memory”

Sarah Robins February 6, 2018 February 6, 2018 Uncategorized

Call for Papers The Philosophy of Memory Essays in Philosophy Volume 19, Number 2 Issue Date: July 2018 Submission Deadline: March 1, 2018 Issue Editors: Ian O’Loughlin (Pacific University) and Sarah Robins (University of Kansas) Memory is a fundamental element of human—and more broadly, animal—intelligence and experience. Given memory’s importance, …

USA versus Trump

Gualtiero Piccinini February 13, 2017 November 25, 2022 Mindcraft / Uncategorized

I’ve rarely posted about politics on this blog. In an old, rare exception, I defended the modern Italian right from the accusation of being fascist or inclined towards fascism while simultaneously accusing Italian political institutions of lacking proper checks and balances (in part as a heritage from the fascist regime). I left …

Notice: M.A. Programs in Philosophy at George Washington University

Tad Zawidzki November 9, 2016 November 9, 2016 Uncategorized

The George Washington University Department of Philosophy has recently launched a terminal M.A. in Philosophy. This new graduate program complements our longstanding and highly successful M.A. in Philosophy and Social Policy. The GW Department of Philosophy’s pluralist faculty spans both analytic and continental traditions, and the new M.A. in Philosophy will provide ideal preparation …

“Perhaps the most dramatic, irresoluble clash in the whole of philosophy …”

John Schwenkler November 7, 2016 November 7, 2016 Free will / Uncategorized

Many readers will likely be interested in this new documentary featuring the work of the Big Questions in Free Will project, from the series Closer to Truth:

IAI @philofbrains: “After the End of Truth”

John Schwenkler November 4, 2016 November 4, 2016 Podcast / Uncategorized

A generation raised on Foucault and Derrida has learned to distrust claims to objective truth. Yet the mantra that ‘there is no truth’ is a paradox. Do we need a new conception of fantasy and reality to free us from the tyranny of truthmakers and the paradoxes of postmodernists alike?

Philosopher John Searle, post-postmodernist Hilary Lawson, and Historian of Ideas at Kings College London Hannah Dawson untangle the truth.

Watch more videos on iai.tv

This video was produced by The Institute of Art and Ideas and is republished here with permission. It was filmed at HowTheLightGetsIn 2015 alongside 200 other debates and talks, all available for free at IAI TV. Their new podcast, Philosophy for our times, is available here.

The Scientific Reductionist and her Live Fundamentalist Position

Carl Gillett October 14, 2016 October 14, 2016 Carl Gillett: Reduction and Emergence in Science and Philosophy / Causation / Concepts / Events / Explanation / functionalism / reduction / Uncategorized

The widespread philosophical view is that reductionism in the sciences is a dead view and perhaps slightly distasteful to boot. As I outlined in an earlier post, the received view assumes that “reductionism” is semantic, or Nagelian, reduction. The goal of such semantic reduction was to show that higher sciences …