The Rediscovery of the Mind

John R. Searle (UC Berkeley), Ned Block (New York University), Hilary Putnam (Harvard University)

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English

MIT Press
08 July 1992

Philosophy of mind; Psychological theory & schools of thought; Popular psychology

Series: Representation and Mind series

In this major new work, John Searle launches a formidable attack on current orthodoxies in the philosophy of mind. More than anything else, he argues, it is the neglect of consciousness that results in so much barrenness and sterility in psychology, the philosophy of mind, and cognitive science- there can be no study of mind that leaves out consciousness. What is going on in the brain is neurophysiological processes and consciousness and nothing more-no rule following, no mental information processing or mental models, no language of thought, and no universal grammar. Mental events are themselves features of the brain, ""like liquidity is a feature of water.""Beginning with a spirited discussion of what's wrong with the philosophy of mind, Searle characterizes and refutes the philosophical tradition of materialism. But he does not embrace dualism. All these ""isms"" are mistaken, he insists. Once you start counting types of substance you are on the wrong track, whether you stop at one or two. In four chapters that constitute the heart of his argument, Searle elaborates a theory of consciousness and its relation to our overall scientific world view and to unconscious mental phenomena. He concludes with a criticism of cognitive science and a proposal for an approach to studying the mind that emphasizes the centrality of consciousness to any account of mental functioning.

In his characteristically direct style, punctuated with persuasive examples, Searle identifies the very terminology of the field as the main source of truth. He observes that it is a mistake to suppose that the ontology of the mental is objective and to suppose that the methodology of a science of the mind must concern itself only with objectively observable behavior; that it is also a mistake to suppose that we know of the existence of mental phenomena in others only by observing their behavior; that behavior or causal relations to behavior are not essential to the existence of mental phenomena; and that it is inconsistent with what we know about the universe and our place in it to suppose that everything is knowable by us.

By: John R. Searle (UC Berkeley)
Series edited by: Ned Block (New York University), Hilary Putnam (Harvard University)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Edition: 1
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 14mm
Weight: 408g
ISBN: 9780262691543
ISBN 10: 026269154X
Series: Representation and Mind series
Pages: 286
Publication Date: 08 July 1992
Recommended Age: From 18
Audience: General/trade , College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , ELT Advanced , A / AS level
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

John R. Searle is Mills Professor of the Philosophy of Mind and Language at the University of California, Berkeley.

Reviews for The Rediscovery of the Mind

""This is as entertaining as serious philosophy gets."" Theodore Roszak, New Scientist ""The computationalists have probably never had such a powerful challenge as this book."" Anthony Gottlieb, New York Times Book Review