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The Resource Mind and cosmos : why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false, Thomas Nagel

Mind and cosmos : why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false, Thomas Nagel

Creator
Summary
The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.--Publisher description
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (x, 130 pages)
Contents
  • Introduction
  • Antireductionism and the natural order
  • Consciousness
  • Cognition
  • Value
  • Conclusion
Isbn
9780199980369
Instance
Label
Mind and cosmos : why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false
Title
Mind and cosmos
Title remainder
why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false
Statement of responsibility
Thomas Nagel
Creator
Subject
Language
eng
Summary
The modern materialist approach to life has conspicuously failed to explain such central mind-related features of our world as consciousness, intentionality, meaning, and value. This failure to account for something so integral to nature as mind, argues philosopher Thomas Nagel, is a major problem, threatening to unravel the entire naturalistic world picture, extending to biology, evolutionary theory, and cosmology. Since minds are features of biological systems that have developed through evolution, the standard materialist version of evolutionary biology is fundamentally incomplete. And the cosmological history that led to the origin of life and the coming into existence of the conditions for evolution cannot be a merely materialist history, either. An adequate conception of nature would have to explain the appearance in the universe of materially irreducible conscious minds, as such. Nagel's skepticism is not based on religious belief or on a belief in any definite alternative. In Mind and Cosmos, he does suggest that if the materialist account is wrong, then principles of a different kind may also be at work in the history of nature, principles of the growth of order that are in their logical form teleological rather than mechanistic. In spite of the great achievements of the physical sciences, reductive materialism is a world view ripe for displacement. Nagel shows that to recognize its limits is the first step in looking for alternatives, or at least in being open to their possibility.--Publisher description
Member of
Cataloging source
N$T
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1937-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Nagel, Thomas
Dewey number
113
Index
index present
LC call number
BD511
LC item number
.N34 2012eb
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Darwin, Charles
  • Cosmology
  • Cosmogony
  • Beginning
  • Creation
  • Science
  • Darwin, Charles
  • SCIENCE
  • Philosophy.
  • Science
  • Beginning
  • Cosmogony
  • Cosmology
  • Creation
  • Science
  • Filosofie van de geest
  • Bewustzijn
  • Darwinisme
  • Materialisme
  • Kosmologie
Label
Mind and cosmos : why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false, Thomas Nagel
Instantiates
Publication
Copyright
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction -- Antireductionism and the natural order -- Consciousness -- Cognition -- Value -- Conclusion
Control code
865508500
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (x, 130 pages)
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780199980369
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)865508500
Label
Mind and cosmos : why the materialist neo-Darwinian conception of nature is almost certainly false, Thomas Nagel
Publication
Copyright
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction -- Antireductionism and the natural order -- Consciousness -- Cognition -- Value -- Conclusion
Control code
865508500
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (x, 130 pages)
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780199980369
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)865508500

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