Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Patricia Churchland

There are a number of contemporary thinkers whose views I especially respect. Patricia Churchland is one of them (and I'll be mentioning others in subsequent posts).

In this interview, Churchland discusses her motivations and her general views on science, philosophy and the human brain. The point of view she is putting forward would be characterized - and condemned - as scientism by many, but it seems to me eminently sensible and not extreme in any way.

I was particularly interested in what she had to say about possible world semantics - namely, that she used to think it interesting, and now sees it as "utterly uninteresting". In other remarks, she dismisses much of the work which defines the core of contemporary (analytic) philosophy as being of little value.

The post I am currently writing (and which I will put up soon) is in part about these issues.

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