Rational Causation

Rational Causation
Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Total Pages : 279
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780674065338
ISBN-13 : 0674065336
Rating : 4/5 (38 Downloads)

Book Synopsis Rational Causation by : Eric Marcus

Download or read book Rational Causation written by Eric Marcus and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2012-05-07 with total page 279 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We explain what people think and do by citing their reasons, but how do such explanations work, and what do they tell us about the nature of reality? Contemporary efforts to address these questions are often motivated by the worry that our ordinary conception of rationality contains a kernel of supernaturalism-a ghostly presence that meditates on sensory messages and orchestrates behavior on the basis of its ethereal calculations. In shunning this otherworldly conception, contemporary philosophers have focused on the project of "naturalizing" the mind, viewing it as a kind of machine that converts sensory input and bodily impulse into thought and action. Eric Marcus rejects this choice between physicalism and supernaturalism as false and defends a third way. He argues that philosophers have failed to take seriously the idea that rational explanations postulate a distinctive sort of causation-rational causation. Rational explanations do not reveal the same sorts of causal connections that explanations in the natural sciences do. Rather, rational causation draws on the theoretical and practical inferential abilities of human beings. Marcus defends this position against a wide array of physicalist arguments that have captivated philosophers of mind for decades. Along the way he provides novel views on, for example, the difference between rational and nonrational animals and the distinction between states and events.


Rational Causation Related Books

Rational Causation
Language: en
Pages: 279
Authors: Eric Marcus
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2012-05-07 - Publisher: Harvard University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

We explain what people think and do by citing their reasons, but how do such explanations work, and what do they tell us about the nature of reality? Contempora
Enhancing Human Traits
Language: en
Pages: 272
Authors: Erik Parens
Categories: Medical
Type: BOOK - Published: 2000-01-03 - Publisher: Georgetown University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In this volume, scholars from philosophy, sociology, history, theology, women’s studies, and law explore the looming ethical and social implications of new bi
Leibniz on Causation and Agency
Language: en
Pages: 236
Authors: Julia Jorati
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2017-07-13 - Publisher: Cambridge University Press

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A fresh and thorough exploration of Leibniz's often controversial theories, including his thought on teleology, contingency, freedom, and moral responsibility.
Rational Choice Marxism
Language: en
Pages: 347
Authors: T. Carver
Categories: Political Science
Type: BOOK - Published: 2016-07-27 - Publisher: Springer

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

To begin with, rational choice Marxism, promised to construct historical explanations and social theories with clarity and rigour. Subsequently, it took a `poli
Efficient Causation
Language: en
Pages: 395
Authors: Tad M. Schmaltz
Categories: Philosophy
Type: BOOK - Published: 2014 - Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume is a collection of new essays by specialists that trace the concept of efficient causation from its discovery (or invention) in Ancient Greece, thro