Mind and Morals

Philosophical Explorations
1. Auflage 2021
ISBN: 978-3-948442-10-1
Verlag: KIENER Verlag

Buch, Englisch, 233 Seiten, Format (B × H): 135 mm x 215 mm

This collection of thought-provoking and practically orientated philosophical articles deals with the mind/body problem, cognitive function, ethics, politics and the nature of the external world.

The split between mind and body is engrained in our thinking and has had very damaging consequences, for instance in medical treatment. Some aspects of this problem are discussed, including an important suggestion by Aristotle to explain how mind and body might be understood as a unity.

The section on cognitive function is of considerable topical interest: are minds to be compared with computers, how do we learn language and what is visual awareness for? The chapters on ethics contain reflections on the nature of evil and of happiness, and a discussion of two intriguing ethical phenomena: what are we to think of great artists who are deplorable human beings and what are we to think of “moral saints”?

The last two sections on “Politics” and “The Nature of the World” are concerned with the political consequences of individual self-realization, with the question of how we know that there is an external world in the first place (could it not all be a dream?) and to what extent the world is determined by the principle of causality (every event has a cause) and to what extent by chance.

This is philosophy which is far removed from realms of abstraction and which addresses, in an engaging way, questions and dilemmas we encounter in everyday life.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Crichton, Paul

Über Autor(innen)

Crichton, Paul
Paul Crichton MA (Oxon), MD (Munich), FRCPsych, PhD (London). Dr. Crichton is a Consultant Psychiatrist working for the Ministry of Justice in London.
His first degree was in Classical Studies (Latin, Greek, Ancient History and Philosophy) at Oxford University

Paul Crichton MA (Oxon), MD (Munich), FRCPsych, PhD (London). Dr. Crichton is a Consultant Psychiatrist working for the Ministry of Justice in London.

His first degree was in Classical Studies (Latin, Greek, Ancient History and Philosophy) at Oxford University.

His medical training was at the Ludwigs-Maximilians-Universität in Munich. He worked for two years in neurology, at the Klinikum Großhadern in Munich and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, Queen Square, London, before doing his psychiatric training, first at Charing Cross Hospital and then at the Maudsley Hospital in London. He worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist in General Adult Psychiatry at Guys Hospital in London and then as Head of the Department of Psychological Medicine at the Royal Marsden Hospital, doing liaison psychiatry and cognitive behavioural therapy with people with cancer. He now sits on Mental Health Review Tribunals in London for the Ministry of Justice.

In 2003 he completed a BA and then in 2010 a PhD in philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London. His PhD was entitled “Self-Realization An Exploration” and his supervisors were Prof. Miranda Fricker and Prof. Susan James. It formed the basis of his book Self-Realization and Inner Necessity Thinking about How to Live (London: Kiener Press, 2013). He has also written papers and articles for scientific and literary journals, including the British Journal of Psychiatry, the Lancet and the Times Literary Supplement.

His main interests lie in the borderline areas between psychiatry, psychology and philosophy, including, for example, psychotic phenomena, rationality and cognitive distortions, the mind-body problem, autonomy, social justice and political freedom, the social identity of individuals, ethical and non-ethical values, and self-realization. The thinkers who have most inspired him include Aristotle, Plato, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Wittgenstein, Rawls, Freud, Kahneman, Williams, Taylor, Nussbaum and Frankfurt.