Rational Causation

Eric Marcus

Published by Harvard University Press 2012

Rational Causation

Eric Marcus

https://doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674065338

Overview
Contents

About this book

We explain what people think and do by citing their reasons, but how do such explanations work, and what do they tell us about the nature of reality? Contemporary efforts to address these questions are often motivated by the worry that our ordinary conception of rationality contains a kernel of supernaturalism—a ghostly presence that meditates on sensory messages and orchestrates behavior on the basis of its ethereal calculations. In shunning this otherworldly conception, contemporary philosophers have focused on the project of “naturalizing” the mind, viewing it as a kind of machine that converts sensory input and bodily impulse into thought and action. Eric Marcus rejects this choice between physicalism and supernaturalism as false and defends a third way.

He argues that philosophers have failed to take seriously the idea that rational explanations postulate a distinctive sort of causation—rational causation. Rational explanations do not reveal the same sorts of causal connections that explanations in the natural sciences do. Rather, rational causation draws on the theoretical and practical inferential abilities of human beings. Marcus defends this position against a wide array of physicalist arguments that have captivated philosophers of mind for decades. Along the way he provides novel views on, for example, the difference between rational and nonrational animals and the distinction between states and events.

Author / Editor information

Marcus Eric :

Eric Marcus is Associate Professor of Philosophy at Auburn University.

Topics

Frontmatter Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	i
Contents Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
1. Rational Explanation of Belief Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	14
2. Rational Explanation of Action Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	65
3. (Non-Human) Animals and Their Reasons Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	116
4. Rational Explanation and Rational Causation Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	145
5. Events and States Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	183
6. Physicalism Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	222
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	261
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	263

Language: English
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 280
Illustrations
- Other: 1 table

eBook

Published: May 7, 2012
ISBN: 9780674065338