Review of McGinn, The Problem of Consciousness
| Abstract | In other words, it's a perfect season for naysayers, and philosophers have risen to the occasion. The most radical is Colin McGinn, former Wilde Reader of Mental Philosophy at Oxford, who has recently taken a position at Rutgers University in New Jersey. The Problem of Consciousness is a collection of eight essays, two of which have not previously been published. McGinn's central thesis is that the problem of consciousness is systematically insoluble by us (Martians or demigods might have better luck). Our brains just weren't meant to get a grip on this tough problem, but--there, there, it's all right--we mustn't draw the conclusion from the fact that we can't understand it, that the mind is intrinsically mysterious. After all, whoever promised that we should be able to understand all possible good science? | |||||||||
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Similar books and articlesAndr Kukla (1995). Mystery, Mind, and Materialism. Philosophical Psychology 8 (3):255-64.
Colin McGinn (1989). Can We Solve the Mind-Body Problem? Mind 98 (July):349-66.
Anthony L. Brueckner & E. Beroukhim (2003). McGinn on Consciousness and the Mind-Body Problem. In Quentin Smith & Aleksandar Jokic (eds.), Consciousness: New Philosophical Perspectives. Oxford University Press.
Colin McGinn (2004). Consciousness and Its Objects. Oxford University Press University Press.
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Colin McGinn (1996). The Character of Mind: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Mind. New York: Oxford University Press.
Robert Kirk (1991). Why Shouldn't We Be Able to Solve the Mind-Body Problem? Analysis 51 (January):17-23.
James Garvey (1997). What Does McGinn Think We Cannot Know? Analysis 57 (3):196-201.
Uriah Kriegel (2004). The New Mysterianism and the Thesis of Cognitive Closure. Acta Analytica 18 (30-31):177-191.
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