Il programma di radicale naturalizzazione della mente. Note su alcuni assunti concettuali

Abstract

The Project of a Radical Naturalization of Mind. Remarks on Some Conceptual Assumptions - In this paper we address the program of the radical naturalization of the mind and, in particular, the materialist monism perspective which is the product of that program. Our aim is to identify the fundamental assumptions on which the program is based. The first assumption we recognize and critically discuss concerns the correspondentist conception of truth. A second assumption is related to the view that the study of the mind consists solely in the identification of causal relations and laws that govern mechanical processes, while the only investigations that can be considered scientific are those which are based on the principle of the closure of the physical world. In conclusion, we show that the most significant assumption of this program is the negation of subjectivity and consciousness, which are reduced to unconscious, non-intelligent processes. The problem we identify with respect to this reduction is that the fundamental distinction between empirical conditions and the conditions of intelligibility is disregarded.

Keywords

• Naturalization
• Mind
• Materialist Monism
• Subjectivity
• Consciousness