0000000000322546
AUTHOR
J.l. Prades
Mental Contents, Tracking Counterfactuals, and Implementing Mechanisms
In the ongoing debate, there are a set of mind-body theories sharing a certain physicallst assumption: whenever a genuine cause produces an effect, the causal efficacy of each of the non- physical properties that participate In that process is determined by the instantiation of a well-defined set of physical properties. These theories would then Insist that a nonphysical property could only be causally efficacious insofar as it is physically implemented. However, in what follows we will argue against the idea that fine- grained mental contents could be physically implemented In the way that functional properties are. Therefore, we will examine the metaphysical con- ditions under which the i…
Mental Contents in a World of Causes
A fundamental issue in cognitive science is whether mental contents are causally efficacious and, therefore, should be preserved in scientific psychology. In this paper, we pursue some aspects of this issue by examining Fred Dretske's recent contributions to it. He defends the causal efficacy of mental content *qua* mental content, but imposes an important constraint: mental contents can operate as structuring, but not as triggering causes. We shall argue, by contrast, that mental contents can also intervene as triggering causes.
Incompatibilismo y necesidad metafísica
Algunos filósofos piensan que el conflicto entre la imagen determinista del mundo y la libertad de decisión es irresoluble, y ello les define como incompatibilistas; mientras que otros consideran que hay modos de integrar ambas intuiciones y merecen, pues, el nombre de compatibilistas. El presente artículo pretende mediar en el debate entre estas dos posiciones. Para ello, reflexionaremos acerca de la naturaleza de los vínculos contrafácticos implicados en las relaciones causales que se presuponen tanto en la imagen determinista del mundo como en nuestras intuiciones acerca de la libertad de decisión.
Physicalism and the Mental: The Dominant View
Se presenta el punto de vista dominante sobre la relación entre el mundo natural y lo mental. A presentation of the dominant view about the metaphysical relation between the natural world and the mental.