Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind (Cambridge Studies in Philosophy)

a Study In The Philosophy Of Science, Proposing A Strong Form Of The Doctrine Of Scientific Realism' And Developing Its Implications For Issues In The Philosophy Of Mind. The present essay is addressed simultaneously to two distinct audiences. The first audience consists of my professional colleagues, other academics, students, and lay readers, who are less than intimately familiar with the philosophical position commonly called scientific realism. For them I have here attempted to make available in fairly short compass a coherent and comprehensive account of that position as it bears on the philosophy of perception, on the theory of meaning, on the philosophy of mind, and on systematic epistemology. 1. Introduction -- 2. The Plasticity Of Perception -- 3. The Plasticity Of Understanding -- 4. Our Self-conception And The Mind/body Problem -- 5. Sentential Epistemologies And The Natural Science Of Epistemic Engines. Paul M. Churchland. Includes Index. Bibliography: P. [152]-154. The common opinion concerning scientific knowledge and theoretical understanding - of molecules, of stars, of nuclei and electro-magnetic waves - is that it is of a kind very different from our knowledge of apples, and tables, and kitchen pots and sand.