Minds, Brains and Science takes up just the problems that perplex people, and it does what good philosophy always does: it dispels the illusion caused by the specious collision of truths. How do we reconcile common sense and science? John Searle argues vigorously that the truths of common sense and the truths of science are both right and that the only question is how to fit them together.
Searle explains how we can reconcile an intuitive view of ourselves as conscious, free, rational agents with a universe that science tells us consists of mindless physical particles. He briskly and lucidly sets out his arguments against the familiar positions in the philosophy of mind, and details the consequences of his ideas for the mind-body problem, artificial intelligence, cognitive science, questions of action and free will, and the philosophy of the social sciences.
John R. Searle is Willis S. and Marion Slusser Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley.
Table of Contents
Contents Introduction 1. Two Worlds of Cane 2. Building Citizenship 3. Crisis and Voice 4. Finding the Spaces of Freedom 5. A Wartime Cross-Racial Alliance 6. Democracy and Antidemocracy 7. The Right to Have Rights 8. The Search for Property and Standing 9. Diverging Paths and Degrees of Freedom Appendix: Tables Abbreviations Notes Select Bibliography of Primary Sources Illustration and Map Credits Acknowledgments Index
What People are Saying About This
This book is aggressive, zealous, and acute. Searle's manner is that of a plain man in possession of plain truths that no one can reject if they are plainly enough stated. I cannot think of another book quite like it.
John Perry
Searle's book is an admirably clear and vigorous exposition of his views on a connected set of philosophical issues of importance and timeliness.
Arthur Danto
This book is aggressive, zealous, and acute. Searle's manner is that of a plain man in possession of plain truths that no one can reject if they are plainly enough stated. I cannot think of another book quite like it.
