Dependencies, Connections, and Other Relations: A Theory of Mental Causation (Philosophical Studies Series, 93)

The text before you is a study ofthe problematic issue ofmental causation: causation by minds. On hearing the expression 'mental causation,' you may at first think ofsomething like bending spoons by 'psychic' powers. But no, we are dealing here with something much more puzzling: doing things for reasons, i. e. , what we call agency. Psychic spoon-bending would be a fairly straightforward issue. You just exert some psychic force and bend a spoon, just like you might bend it by hand, i. e. , by physical force. The only trouble here is that psychic forces may not be in fact available '. But now you fetch an umbrella because you expect that it will rain. How does that work? Some­ how, it seems, you let an expectation move your limbs. But aren't your limbs already moved by nerve impulses and muscle contractions? And are expecta­ tions the proper kind ofitems to move things around? Mental causation is an issue that is at the heart ofthe mind-body problem, the problem of making it clear how minded creatures such as we are possi­ ble, and what our mindedness consists in. Unlike psychic spoon-bending, mental causation happens every day. At least, pretty much of what we take for granted about ourselves can only be right when mental causation really happens. Front Matter....Pages i-xxxiii Front Matter....Pages xxxv-xxxv Particulars, Properties, and Relations....Pages 1-13 Physicalism....Pages 15-23 A Layered World....Pages 25-40 Front Matter....Pages 41-42 A Duality in the Concept of Causality....Pages 43-51 Causal Dependence....Pages 53-71 Causal Connection....Pages 73-86 Unifying Dependence and Connection....Pages 87-100 Causation and Natural Law....Pages 101-113 The Problem of Causal Relata....Pages 115-123 Getting Events Wrong....Pages 125-136 Getting Events Right....Pages 137-146 Relations as Causal Relata....Pages 147-154 Causal Efficacy....Pages 155-168 Supervenient Causation....Pages 169-179 Front Matter....Pages 181-182 The Concept of Mind....Pages 183-198 Against the Computational Theory....Pages 199-210 Against the Theory Theory....Pages 211-218 Against Internalism....Pages 219-232 Against Reductionism....Pages 233-240 Against Token Physicalism....Pages 241-250 Front Matter....Pages 251-251 The Five Problems Once Again....Pages 253-259 Back Matter....Pages 261-288 When we do things for reasons, our behaviour seems to be caused by mental states such as beliefs and desires. But how can that be true? Is our body not already moved by 'physical' causes such as nerve impulses and muscle contractions? What difference is made by what is on our minds? It is unsettling that in contemporary analytic philosophy of mind we find widespread doubts about mental causation. For it is at the root of our existence as perceiving, thinking and acting subjects. Dependencies, Connections, and Other Relations. A Theory of Mental Causation covers, in its subsequent parts, ontology, the metaphysics of causation, and the philosophy of mind. It provides a firm theoretical basis for believing that in our all-physical world mental causation is perfectly real, and that it can be understood

This work covers, in its subsequent parts, ontology, the metaphysics of causation, and the philosophy of mind. It provides a firm theoretical basis for believing that in our all-physical world mental causation is perfectly real, and that it can be understood.