Naturalism, Evolution and Intentionality

Edited by Jillian Scott McIntosh
Series: Canadian Journal of Philosophy
Publisher: University of Calgary Press, Canadian Journal of Philosophy
Paperback : 9780919491274, 264 pages, November 2002

Description

What might we know if we knew that the mind is an adaptation? What could knowledge of history or circumstances tell us about the individuation of content or the nature/rôle of vision? What can science-evolutionary theory in particular-tell us about the metaphysics of mind?

This collection of new essays concerning the mind explores the prospects for, and limits of, appealing to facts about evolutionary history and current environment-organism interaction in explaining the nature and workings of the mental. Each paper addresses empirical data from evolutionary theory, ethology, psychology, or neuroscience, though they vary with regard to their optimism as to what such discoveries can tell us about particular issues in the philosophy of mind.