Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind

by Paul M. Churchland

Written mainly with the student and general reader in mind, this book explores the nature of conscious intelligence in a concise and straightforward fashion. It tackles the subject using material from a variety of related fields—philosophy, psychology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, ethology, and evolutionary theory. Exploiting this unusually broad perspective, it provides a fresh description of the major issues in the current philosophical/scientific debate, a comprehensive discussion of the competing philosophical theories and methodological approaches, and an up-to-date outline of the most important theoretical arguments and empirical data.

Following an introduction, chapters cover the ontological problem (the mind-body problem), the semantical problem, the epistemological problems (self-awareness and other minds), the methodological problem, and computers and artificial intelligence. There is a substantial chapter on the several neurosciences. A concluding chapter speculates on the distribution of intelligence in the universe, and on the possible expansion of human introspective consciousness.

Genres: Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Neuroscience, Nonfiction, Textbooks, Brain

184 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Paul Churchland is a philosopher noted for his studies in neurophilosophy and the philosophy of mind. He is currently a Professor at the University of California, San Diego, where he holds the Valtz Chair of Philosophy. Churchland holds a joint appointment with the Cognitive Science Faculty and the Institute for Neural Computation. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1969 under the direction of Wilfrid Sellars. Churchland is the husband of philosopher Patricia Churchland, and the father of two children.

Churchland began his professional career as an instructor at the University of Pittsburgh in 1969; he also lectured at the University of Toronto from 1967-69. In 1969, Churchland took a position at the University of Manitoba, where he would teach for fifteen years: as an assistant professor (69 - 74) and associate professor (74 - 79), and then as a full professor from 1979 - 1984. Professor Churchland joined the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University in 1982, staying as a member until 1983. He joined the faculty at the University of California, San Diego in 1983, serving as Department Chair from 1986 - 1990.

Churchland has supervised a number of PhD students, including P.D. Magnus (now at the University at Albany) and Philip Brey (now at the University of Twente).

Along with his wife, Churchland is a major proponent of eliminative materialism, which claims that everyday mental concepts such as beliefs, feelings and desires are theoretical constructs without coherent definition; hence we should not expect such concepts to be a necessary part of a scientific understanding of the brain. Just as a modern understanding of science has no need for concepts such as luck or witchcraft to explain the world, Churchland argues that a future neuroscience is likely to have no need for "beliefs" or "feelings" to explain the mind. Instead, the use of objective phenomena such as neurons and their interaction should suffice. He points out that the history of science has seen many previous concepts discarded, such as phlogiston, caloric, the luminiferous ether, and vital forces.

Reviews

[Aung Sett Kyaw Min · Rating 3 out of 5]

why should we take eliminative materialism seriously as a contender to both ordinary type identity materialism or functionalism? Churchland proposes that the whole stock of vocabulary pertaining to our mental states and dispositions that we take for granted, and the way we ordinarily the talk about "beliefs" and "desires"--is simply one possible conceptual framework among many (43, 56). worse still, it does not appear to be adequately equipped to capture the full saga of consciousness in granular details. he regards this classical framework as severely defective (despite its enormous instrumental and practical success) and predicts that future progress in the empirical disciplines of neuroscience and cognitive psychology will likely demand a radical overturning of the whole constellation of the folk psychological image. in a way, 'eliminative materialism' is akin to a promissory note from a borrower who can boast a good track record. the chapter on artificial neural networks went a bit over my head but the subsequent chapter on the evolutionary history of the development of our mammalian brain is quite eye-opening. as far as introductory level stuff goes, even if you're not a materialist with regards to the mind and consciousness you will appreciate churchland's honesty.

[ArEzO.... Es · Rating 5 out of 5]

درآمديست به فلسفه ذهن امروز
اگر فقط يك كلمه براي اين كتاب بشه نوشت:هوش مصنوعي
پيشگفتار:معمولا فيلسوفان كتابهايشان را براي ديگر فيلسوفان مي نويسند.وبه طور معترضه ابراز اميدواري مي كنند كه كتاب براي دانشجويان و خوانندگان عادي نيز سودمند افتد.چنين اميدهايي معمولا واهي اند.من به اميد معارضه با اين وضع اين كتاب را در درجه نخست و صراحتا براي كساني نگاشته ام كه متخصص فلسفه و هوش مصنوعي يا علوم عصبي نيستند.هدف من در اينجا برانگيختن تخيل خواننده ي عام و دانشجو است.در واقع من ضمنا اميدوارم كه اين مجلد فشرده به عنوان خلاصه اي جامع و كتابي مرجع براي همكاران حرفه اي ام و دانشجويان پيشرفته ي مدارج عالي نيز مفيد واقع شود.اما اين كتاب را براي آنها ننوشته ام .اين كتاب را براي تازه واردان فلسفه ذهن نوشته ام .
ايده ي نوشتن اين كتاب در خلال ارائه ي يك دوره ي فلسفه ذهن در مقطع كارشناسي شكل گرفت .دوره اي كه به كمك متون استاندارد ديرپايي تدريس شد.از آنجا كه در پانزده سال اخير تحولات بسياري در اين حيطه رخ داده آن متون و جنگ هاي خوب از كارهاي بسيار جديد موجود است اما اين جنگ ها پيشرفته تر و گران تر از آنند كه به آساني بكار دانشجوي كارشناسي بيايند.در انتهاي آن دوره برآن شدم كه متني مناسب تروآسان ياب تر فارغ از مسائل فسيل شده با تاريخچه اي موجز و سر راست و سر شار از پيشرفت هاي جديد بنويسم .اين مجلد حاصل كار است.
بيشتر اين كتاب طي تابستان 1982 در كلبه ي دنج مان در موزليك صحراي منيتوبا جايي كه آواي سرخوشي هاي شبانه ي لون ها ي اسرار آميز بر كارم طنين انداز بود نگاشته شد.و كتاب در ميانه ي پاييز در موسسه ي مطالعات پيشرفته پرينستون جايي كه گله هاي قوهاي كانادايي نغمه هاي مشابهي ساز مي كردند به پايان رسيد.با اين حال به تدريج از الهام ها و آموزش هاي اساسي تري نيز بهره گرفته ام .نخست بايد از دوست و همكار م لاري جردن سپاسگزاري كنم كه در سال هاي 1981-82مرا به آزمايشگاه نورو فيزيولوژي اش برد با آزمايش هاي ماراتون وار چهارشنبه هايش همراه نمود وموجب سرگرمي بسيار و آموزش گرانقدري شد.همچنين بايد از فيلسوفان همكارم دانيل دنت و استفن استيچ به خاطر فراهم كردن امكانات حضورم در چندين گردهم آيي تخصصي در ايالات متحده و انگلستان و به خاطر هر آنچه كه در ملاقات هاي متعدد مطبوع و مفيد مان به من آموختند تشكر كنم .من براي بحث هاي ثمربخشي كه بالغ بريك دهه با دوست و همكارم مايكل استك در مورد ذهن و جايگاه آن در طبيعت داشته ام به او مديونم .بالاتر از همه بايد همسر و همكار حرفه اي ام پاتريشا اسميت چرچلند را كه بيش از هر فيلسوفي درباره زندگي ذهن /مغزبه من آموخت سپاس گويم.
در پايان از كن وارمبرود- ندبلاك- باب ريچاردسون- املي رورتي- كليف هوكروديويد و ودرف اسميت به خاطر تشويق ها ي گوناگون و به خاطر نقدهاي ارزشمند شان بر نسخه اوليه متشكرم .وبه خاطر تسهيلاتي كه موسسه تحقيقات پيشرفته براي تكميل اين كتاب در اختيارم نهاد و مجالي كه جهت پرداختن به چندين طرح نظري ديگر برايم فراهم كرد هميشه مديون آن خواهم بود.
پاول . م . چرچلند......پرينستون –نيوجرزي 1983

[Anima · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 The Methodological Problem
"
Over the past sixty years, behaviorism has been the single most influential school of psychology in the English-speaking world.
........
According to behaviorism, the first and most important obligation of the science of psychology is to explain the observable behavior of whatever creature it addresses, humans included. By “ behavior”, the behaviorists mean the publicly observable, measurable, recordable activity of the subjects at issue: bodily movements, noises emitted, temperature changes, chemicals released, interactions with the environment, and so forth.....
Of comparable importance to most behaviorists, however, was the way in which behavior was to be properly explained. Common-sense explanations that make appeal to ‘ mental states ’
are regarded as seriously defective in various ways. Such explanations appeal to a body of folklore that has no proper scientific basis, and that may consist largely of superstition and confusion,
as with so many of our past conceptions.
.....
Instead of appealing to mental states, behaviorists proposed to explain any organism ’ s behavior in terms of its peculiar environmental circumstances. Or, in terms of the environment plus
certain observable features of the organism. Or, failing that, also in terms of certain unobservable features of the organism — dispositions, and innate and conditioned reflexes — where those
features must meet a very strict condition: they must be such that their presence or absence could always be decisively determined by a behavioral test, as the solubility of a sugar cube is
revealed by its actually dissolving (=   the behavior) when placed in water (=   the environmental circumstance).
............
Methodological Materialism
It is this methodology that guides the several disciplines collected under the term neuroscience, ... This approach to intelligent behavior has a very long history. The ancient Greek physician, Hippocrates, was aware that brain degeneration destroyed sanity. And the Roman physician Galen had already discovered the existence of, and the difference between, the somatosensory nervous system (the set of axonal fibers that conduct ‘ touch ’information to the brain) and the motor nervous system (the set of axonal fibers that radiate from the brain and spinal cord so as to control the body ’ s muscles).

The neuronal architecture revealed by these methods is breathtaking in its intricacy. The functional ‘ atoms ’of the brain are tiny impulse-processing cells called neurons, and there are almost 10 11 (a one followed by 11 zeroes: 100 billion) neurons in a single human brain. To gain a usable conception of this number, imagine a smallish two-story house filled from cellar to rafters with coarse sand. There are as many neurons in your brain as there are grains of sand in that house. More intriguing
still, the average neuron enjoys, by way of tiny fibers extending from it called axons and dendrites, about 3,000 connections with other neurons, so the interconnectivity of the overall system is
truly extraordinary: about 10 14, or 100 trillion, connections.

Such complexity defeats any ready understanding, and we have only just begun to unravel it.

The guiding conviction of methodological materialism is that if we set about to understand the physical, chemical, electrical, and developmental behavior of neurons, and especially of
systems of neurons, and the ways in which they exert control over one another and over behavior, then we will be on our way toward understanding everything there is to know about natural
intelligence."

8 Expanding Our Perspective
"Energy Flow and the Evolution of Order
Basically, intelligence requires a system of physical elements (such as atoms) capable of many different combinations, and a flow of energy (such as sunlight) through the system of elements.

The flow or flux of energy, into the system and then out again, is absolutely crucial. In a system that is closed to the entry and exit of external energy, the energy-rich atomic combinations
within the system will gradually break up and redistribute their energy among the energy-poor combinations until the level of energy is everywhere the same throughout the system —
this is the equilibrium state.
.....
A system has intelligence just in case it exploits the information it already contains, and the energy flux through it (this includes the energy flux through its sense organs), in such a way as to increase the information it contains. Such a system can learn from its ongoing interactions with the environment, and that seems to be a central element of intelligence.
This improved characterization does capture something deeply important about the things we commonly count as intelligent.
And I hope the reader is already struck by the close parallels between this definition of intelligence, and our earlier definition of life as the exploitation of contained order, and energy flux, to get more order. These parallels are important for the following reason. If the possession of information can be understood as the possession of some form of internal order that bears some systematic relation to the environment, then the operations of intelligence, abstractly conceived, turn to be just
a high-grade instance of the operations characteristic of life, operations that are even more intricately coupled to the creature ’ s environment.
...human brain constitutes only 2 percent of the body ’ s mass, it consumes, when highly active, over 20 percent of the resting body ’ s energy budget. The brain, too, is a semiclosed system, a
curiously high-intensity one, whose ever-changing microscopic order reflects the objective structure of the world in impressive detail. Here again, intelligence represents no discontinuity.
Intelligent life is just life, with a high thermodynamic intensity and an especially close coupling between internal order and external circumstance. .."

[Siamand Lalisani · Rating 3 out of 5]

در فصل اول و دوم کتاب به تفصیل در مورد فلسفه ذهن و نظریات موجود در این فلسفه صحبت می شود و مطالب بسیار مفید و دسته بندی شده ای در اختیار خواننده قرار داده می شود و حتی با وجود هیچگونه پیش زمینه ای از طرف خواننده در مورد فلسفه ذهن، نویسنده قدم به قدم مطالب را آموزش میدهد که بسیار مفید و جذاب است

فصول بعدی کتاب به اندازه دو فصل ابتدایی منسجم و مفید نیستند و بیشتر تکرار مطالب پیشین است و ترجمه گاها بسیار مناسب و در اکثر مواقع خسته کننده از طرف مترجم در کنار مطالب کش داده شده از طرف نویسنده ، مطالعه کتاب رو فرسایشی و خسته کننده میکند

پیشنهاد میکنم دو فصل ابتدایی رو مطالعه کنید اما با نخوندن فصل های بعدی چیزی از دست نمیدید

[Buğra Davutluoğlu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Konuya ilgi duyanlar için sade anlatımı ile uygun bir başlangıç ve kapsamlı bir özet mahiyetinde.

[VII · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's hard to make a detailed review about this book as most of it is more like a coursebook that describes different views on some major philosophical problems that concern the neurosciences too, like the ontological, the semantical and the methodological problem. I think he does an excellent job at keeping things simple and clearly structured. Of course he has his favorites and those are the ones that he fleshes out more but he clearly states this and doesn't hide their problems under the rug.

In the second part of the book (in the chapters 6 to 8) he present the -then- current projects of neuroscience that generally tend to work with a reductive materialism view, as that is his view. This part was maybe a little more detailed than it should have been and I don't know how dated this information is. I really enjoyed his way of presenting the two frequent objections against the evolutionary theory, the appearance of life and the development of consciousness. For one thing life and consciousness are not very clearly defined and organisms tend to fall into a spectrum in regard to them, than some kind of binary: alive/not alive, conscious/not conscious. This way, the development of those two phenomena becomes smooth and gradual instead of some kind of big leap like some people like Thomas Nagel assume (see his Mind and Cosmos), so the objections sound less accurate.

Overall, a simple and quick introductory book on the philosophy of the mind and the neurosciences.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I do appreciate a neurological approach to philosophy of mind, I found the vast majority of C's points and arguments hopelessly question-begging and even hypocritical--In the same breath he criticizes previously outmoded paradigms that he haphazardly lumps into the category 'folk psychology,' he takes interesting but inconclusive gains in the neurosciences to be the answer to all our philosophical problems. I was hoping for some good neurophilosophy, and I did not get it.

In the history of the modern world, how many wide-eyed scientists have thought the implications of their research answered all the questions (most specifically, the God question), only to have the world find that it isn't so? If Christians who do not believe in evolution, global warming, or women's rights embarass religion, people like Churchland who think neuroscience is the foundation for morality and utopia embarass scientific philosophy.

PC's view: Eliminative Materialism--Consciousness does not exist in the sense that folk psychological statements about conscious states are misleading and mostly inaccurate. Therefore, talk of consciousness with all its bells and whistles should be abandoned.

[Richard Newton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Churchland has written an exceptionally clear discussion of various theories of the mind - weaving together philosophy and science. He takes a clearly materialist line, but even if you do not agree with his views there is much to learn here. If clarity is a sign that someone knows there subject well, then Churchland obviously does. In this relatively compact book he covers a lot of ground - given its size and the areas he covers these in a reasonable depth, but obviously there are limits.

I find his writing clearer, than for example Dennett, who also argues for completely materialist views of the mind and cuts across philosophy and science.

My one criticism is that his style is completely deadpan - but if you can live with that you will find much to enjoy in this book.

[Joseph Sverker]

The historic overview and presentation of different view is really brilliant and very illuminating. I then think I'm a little bit too thick or, at least I didnät quite see the relevance in the substantial focus on describing how computers work and different cells. I don't really see a conclusion there. I like his though of intelligence as controlling and creating complext systems, but I'm not sure that he was abl to explain how exactly that is possible. But, his descriptions of reptile brains etc. made me a little drowsy, so I suppose I should read it again some time.

[Mohammadreza Bakhtyari · Rating 3 out of 5]

ماده و آگاهی کتابی است برای طبقه بندی ذهنیت ما در مورد ذهن، مغز و ماده و دنیای غیرمادی، ترجمه این کتاب چندان روان نیست اما به علت وجود کلمات دشوار برای ترجمه شدن به فارسی و همینطور گاها متن علمی و ترجمه دشوار آن می‌توان ترجمه آن را قابل قبول دانست.

[Zedder · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a good intro. to phil. of mind, check out the second edition of J. Kim's. This is valuable for being opinionated, but not as an intro. book.

[Kayson Fakhar · Rating 5 out of 5]

به به، پس از مدت‌ها یه کتاب باز اینجوری چسبید بهم

[Kerem Cankocak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Churchland Türkiye'de pek tanınmasa da dünyanın en ünlü felsefecilerinden. Bu kitabı zihin felsefesine harika bir başlangıç.

[Chant · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book finished while living in Japan!

[H.A. Leuschel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This an excellent and very thought-provoking textbook if you are interested in the study of the human mind. Make sure you read the latest edition of the book as it has been updated a few times!

[Nathan Ormond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly little progress in the field since this was written back in the day. I think Churchlands taxonomy of issues in philosophy of mind is more fruitful than many of the contemporary analyses on offer and the discussion of some of the foundational concepts in neuroscience, including the relationship between neural networks and their mathematical modelling using linear algebra is great for bridging conceptual gaps modern people might have.

[Mirek Kukla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Matter and Consciousness is a terrific introduction to the philosophy of consciousness, and a surprisingly light read. Churchland's writing is clear, concise, and fresh - that is to say, not boring.

The first half of the book investigates the phenomenon of consciousness, discusses it's philosophical difficulties, and covers the main philosophical theories of consciousness. The second half is dedicated to investigating intelligence in general, and Churchland explains how science (namely, AI and Neuroscience) is involved in this investigation.

This balance of philosophy and science makes the book readily accessible, and will appeal to a broad audience. Comprehensive yet concise, Churhland's book is the perfect introduction to the trippy world that is conscious thought.

[Tim Ostler · Rating 4 out of 5]

It shames me to say that I never read this when I should have, during my Cognitive Science Masters course in the mid 90s. Instead as an instinctive reductionist I was aware of, and drawn to the Churchlands' bracing Eliminative Materialism along with its dismissal of the way we normally think we feel as "folk psychology". It was indeed deeply refreshing to read it now - I feel it should be given away for free with every copy of the Bible and the Koran -- but I was a little disappointed that there was not a more extended discussion of EM and its pros and cons.

[Stephie Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was a pretty good book. Churchland certainly live up to his purpose stated in his preface. He produce a very readable text providing a good overview of the philosophy of mind. I like his emphasis on the importance of scientific researhc for the field. I really like the idea of eliminative materialism which Churchland gave a good presentation of it. It might not be correct , but who knows because we hardly have a complete neuroscience yet (if ever). The only problem for the book is that it is date.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book makes a great introduction to the subject of philosophy of mind. All major theories are laid out with pros and cons, great examples, and simple language.

The latter section on consciousness, AI and neurology was interesting to me, but I'm not sure that it's remained up with the times even though the book's not that old.

[Izlinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

We read the book for my Intro to Cognitive Science class, as an introduction to the issues relating to Cog Sci/a bit of its "history." (Not really chronological history, but the thinking that was popular then.)

Biased, but at least he was open about it. Dry. We basically read one chapter a day. Some chapters were more dense than others, which made for unbalanced comprehension.

[Fazilla Zulk. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Paul dan Patricia yang sangat defensive terhadap buah fikiran mereka. Behaviorist yang lancang menentang dualist. Argument trhadap MBP seusaha d buktikan dgn neurologi.
they are just so folk in debating their ideas and so forth. sy yakin.
ada ke yg benar bukan dualist in a very basic living. decision making pakai apa.
hmm im a proud dualist. thanks descartes.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid primer for understanding the fundamental philosophies and theoretical frameworks surrounding the modern neuroscience of consciousness. Written as clearly as any scholarly book i’ve ever read, it intermixes the science and philosophy smoothly in language i think most people could digest even if they might find it a bit dry.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're an eliminative materialist, this is a five-star book; if you're not, well, three stars is probably about right. Either way, this book could use some updating, given all the advances in neuroscience in 22 years since "Matter and Consciousness" was last revised.

[Arkuat · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you haven't read any Paul Churchland yet, this is the one to start with. Reading the most recent editions in order of pub-date of first edition is probably the way to go. They all bear re-reading well.

[Nat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provocative intro to philosophy of mind. Worth reading for the charming drawings of how people realigned their conception of their place in the solar system post-Copernicus.

[Gerald Ehlers 2nd · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very readable for a novice studying philosophy of mind and/or someone who is looking to discover the relationship and boundaries between psychology and philosophy.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the study of the philosophy of mind.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Churchland is one of those writers that scares the ever-lovin' hell out of me. Read this book and you'll find out why.

[Jamal]

khodetun in ketabo khundid?
ta hala nadidamesh