Category Archives: Philosophy of Mind

Consciousness Is Not An Emergent Property

Posted on April 18, 2014 by Max West

In (of all places) Forbes magazine, research neuroscientist Marc Ettlinger has a primer on the way in which materialist explanations of consciousness fail at the most basic philosophic levels (“What Are Some Concise Ways To Convince People That Consciousness Is … Continue reading →

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Ross Douthat: How to Study the Numinous

Posted on April 16, 2014 by Max West

Ross Douthat has an excellent ‘philosophy of mind’-oriented piece in his latest column (“How to Study the Numinous“): In an op-ed in the Sunday edition of this newspaper, Barbara Ehrenreich, card-carrying liberal rationalist, writes about her own mystical experiences (the … Continue reading →

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Anxiety & Consciousness

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Max West

Louis Menand reviews Scott Stossel’s book My Age of Anxiety: “To say that my anxiety is reducible to the ions in my amygdala”—the home of the fight-or-flight reflex—“is as limiting as saying that my personality or my soul is reducible … Continue reading →

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The Professor & The Student

Posted on October 9, 2013 by Max West

I refer to Thomas Nagel often in this blog, and his seminal “What Is It Like To Be A Bat? article singlehandedly launched the New Mysterians movement in philosophy of mind, but my absolute favorite New Mysterian philosopher is Colin … Continue reading →

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Team Nagel

Posted on September 24, 2013 by Max West

I can’t recall the last time a single work of philosophy has generated so much A-level commentary. I, for one, am on Team Nagel. William Carroll, a member of the Faculty of Theology and Religion of the University of Oxford, … Continue reading →

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