Paul Churchland

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Paul M. Churchland (born October 21, 1942 ) is a Canadian philosopher who teaches at the University of California in San Diego . He is the husband of the philosopher Patricia Churchland . His main area of ​​work is the philosophy of mind and neurophilosophy .

Paul Churchland has become known as a representative of eliminative materialism . Eliminative materialists consider everyday psychological terms such as “conviction” or “sensation” to be incoherent. Such concepts are not compatible with neuroscientific knowledge. They could also be replaced by neuroscientific terminology.

The Churchlands also use analogies from the history of science to argue for eliminative materialism . In the course of scientific advances it was found that certain entities simply do not exist (such as witches or phlogistons ). In the course of neuroscientific advances one has to realize that there are no mental states either, only neuronal states.

In 2020 Churchland was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences .

Fonts

  • Plato's Camera: How the Physical Brain Captures a Landscape of Abstract Universals , MIT Press, 2012. ISBN 978-0262016865
  • The Engine of Reason, The Seat of the Soul: A Philosophical Journey into the Brain , MIT Press, 1995. ISBN 978-0262531429
  • The soul machine. A philosophical journey into the brain. Berlin, Spectrum Academic Publishing House. 1995
  • A Neurocomputational Perspective: The Nature of Mind and the Structure of Science , MIT Press, 1989. ISBN 978-0262531061
  • Images of Science: Scientific Realism versus Constructive Empiricism , University of Chicago Press, 1985.
  • Matter and Consciousness , MIT Press, 1984.
  • Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind , Cambridge University Press, 1979.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Churchland, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Churchland, Paul M.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1942