Being in the world
Cognitive scienceDescartesexistentialismHubert DreyfusMartin Heideggerphenomenologysituated cognition
Cognitive scienceDescartesexistentialismHubert DreyfusMartin Heideggerphenomenologysituated cognition
Here’s a film that I chanced upon (I haven’t seen it yet). Once upon a time there was a world full of meaning, focused by exemplary figures in the form of gods and heroes, saints and sinners. How did we lose them, or, might they still be around, in the form of modern day masters,…
Here is a three part interview led by the ever reliable and precise expositor, Bryan Magee. I’m not sure that things have changed that much since this programme in 1978 in that while Heidegger is fully accepted (and suggestively reinterpreted) by those of us in cognitive science, mainstream analytical philosophy still sees him as a…
Here is an extract from the intro to Georg Christoph Lichtenberg by Steven Tester. GCL was a thoroughly modern mind in so many ways making writers such as Dennett, Grayling and the like seem rather timid (my previous Lichtenberg posts). Given Lichtenberg’s interest in self-knowledge, metempsychosis, and personal identity, it is not surprising that he often…
I’ve just had the occasion to read a posthumously published paper by Bernard Williams. One is reminded what a top-notch mind he was, steering a balance between the worst excesses of analytical philosophy’s logicism and continental obscurity, yet with devastating and readable arguments. (OK, I concede that the one exception is his incredibly dense but…
This essay is well worth a read. H/T to Brian Glenney for bringing it to my attention (I hang my head in shame for not having read it before). Adam SmithCognitionCognitive neuroscienceCognitive scienceDavid HumeDescartesEssayexternal worldhumeLockePhilosophyPhilosophy of mindqualiaSmithSocial SciencesTreatise of Human Nature
Alva Noë on where to look Alva NoëAstonishing Hypothesis: The Scientific Search for the SoulBrainCognitionCognitive neuroscienceCognitive scienceconsciousnessDescartesEmbodied cognitionExtended MindFrancis CrickneurosciencePhilosophy of mindRené Descartes
Namit Arora in a themed issue of Philosophy Now considers the complexity of consciousness and its implications for artificial intelligence. But despite the big advances in computing, AI has fallen woefully short of its ambition and hype. Instead, we have ‘expert’ systems that process predetermined inputs in specific domains, perform pattern matching and database lookups, and…