Causality and “the mental”

  • Jennifer Hornsby Birkbeck, University of London, and Centre for the Study of Mind in Nature, University of Oslo
Keywords: mental causation, Descartes, Davidson

Abstract

Many analytic philosophers of mind take for granted a certain (broadly Humean) conception of causality. Assumptions deriving from that conception are in place when they problematize what they call mental causation or argue for physicalism in respect of the mental. I claim that a different (broadly Aristotelian) conception of causality is needed for understanding many ordinary causal truths about things which act, including truths about human, minded beings — sc. rational beings who lead lives.

Published
2015-12-01
How to Cite
Hornsby, J. (2015). Causality and “the mental”. HUMANA.MENTE Journal of Philosophical Studies, 8(29), 125-140. Retrieved from https://www.humanamente.eu/index.php/HM/article/view/70