Metaphysics of the Conscious Mind

On Being a Brain
Erscheinungsjahr 2026
ISBN: 978-3-032-31150-4
Verlag: Springer

Buch, Englisch, 175 Seiten, Format (B × H): 155 mm x 235 mm

Reihe: Studies in Brain and Mind

This book addresses one of the central problems in the philosophy of mind, namely, the relation between the conscious mind and the body. It argues for a radically new way to understand the relation in terms of a heretofore unthematized concept of being, dubbed subjective being; a concept employed by us when we judge that there is something it is like to be a bat, or that there is nothing it feels like to be a rock. Specifically, in the case of human consciousness, it argues for the view that being a brain is undergoing conscious states. The resulting position makes it possible to chart a middle course between physicalism and dualism, avoiding the excesses of both, while providing novel answers to some of the most persistent questions in the philosophy of mind, such as the place of the conscious mind in nature, the nature of mind-body interaction, the metaphysical nature of action, and the metaphysical possibility of philosophical “zombies”. This monograph appeals to students and researchers working in the philosophy of mind.

Zielgruppe

Research

Autoren/Hrsg.

Elgat, Guy

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophie des Geistes, Neurophilosophie
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Metaphysik, Ontologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Chapter 1 Subjective Being I: Its Distinctness and the Direct Argument for the View.- Chapter 2 The Thesis: Being a Brain is Minding.- Chapter 3 Subjective Being II: The Concept and Metaphysics of Subjective Being.- Chapter 4 Mind-body Interaction.- Chapter 5 Action and Hard Problems.- Chapter 6 Rival Views and Theories.- 
Chapter 7 Remaining Questions, Possibilities, Speculations.

Über Autor(innen)

Guy Elgat is a Lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is the author of Being Guilty: Freedom, Responsibility, and Conscience in German Philosophy from Kant to Heidegger (Oxford University Press, 2022) and Nietzsche’s Psychology of Ressentiment: Revenge and Justice in On the Genealogy of Morals (Routledge, 2017).