1st Edition

The Immaterial Self A Defence of the Cartesian Dualist Conception of the Mind

By John Foster Copyright 1991
    308 Pages
    by Routledge

    308 Pages
    by Routledge

    Dualism argues that the mind is more than just the brain. It holds that there exists two very different realms, one mental and the other physical. Both are fundamental and one cannot be reduced to the other - there are minds and there is a physical world. This book examines and defends the most famous dualist account of the mind, the cartesian, which attributes the immaterial contents of the mind to an immaterial self.

    John Foster's new book exposes the inadequacies of the dominant materialist and reductionist accounts of the mind. In doing so he is in radical conflict with the current philosophical establishment. Ambitious and controversial, The Immaterial Self is the most powerful and effective defence of Cartesian dualism since Descartes' own

    Preface, 1. THE DUALIST DOCTRINE, 2. NIHILISM AND ANALYTICAL BEHAVIOURISM, 3. ANALYTICAL FUNCTIONALISM, 4. THE TYPE-IDENTITY THESIS, 5. TOKEN-IDENTITY AND METAPHYSICAL REDUCTIONISM, 6. TOKEN-IDENTITY AND PSYCHOPHYSICAL CAUSATION, 7. THE MENTAL SUBJECT, 8. PERSONAL IDENTITY, EMBODIMENT, AND FREEDOM, Notes, Bibliography, Index

    Biography

    Foster, John

    `This is a lucid, powerful and well-constructed book.' - N.M.L Nathan, MIND