Deconstructing the Mind

by Stephen P. Stich

Book Overview

Over the last two decades, debates over the viability of commonsense psychology have been center stage in both cognitive science and the philosophy of mind. Eliminativists have argued that advances in cognitive science and neuroscience will ultimately justify a rejection of our "folk" theory of the mind, and of its ontology. In the first half of this book Stich, who was at one time a leading advocate of eliminativism, maintains that even if the sciences...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195100816
• ISBN13: 9780195100815
• Release Date: July 1996
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 1.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.4" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

misleading title...

I bought this book as a reference for support in my belief in eliminativism. To the contrary, it turns out to be a very cogent argument in support of a rich and real set of mental processes. The author's logic is impeccable and leads relentlessly to the conclusion that the eliminativists have got things wrong.I will admit that I initially felt threatened by a confrontation with evidence that mental processes were real. I simply had to take seriously some concepts I thought I had permanently dismissed. Now, I am very relieved to dismiss the vacuous state of dead materialism instead. I feel human again.I can heartily recommend this book for others who retreat into eliminativism in order to make life simpler. I can understand the selection of a title that draws the attention of precisely the readers who make the mistake of pretending the mind does not exist.

"Folk" discussion, anyone?

i'm curently working through "from folk psychology to cognitive science...." looking for others who have or are currently reading this or any other work on similar topics (e.g. content of beliefs, conceptual representation, etc....) if anyone has stich's homepage id love to chat with him....i think that the richness of this work requires some educated discussion, of which there is a paucity in this area.