V O R T R A G
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Oesterreichisches Forschungsinstitut fuer Artificial Intelligence(OFAI)
in cooperation with
the Middle European interdisciplinary Joint Master Program in Cognitive
Science, University of Vienna, and
the Cognitive Science Research Platform, University of Vienna, and
the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science, Vienna
Freyung 6/6, A-1010 Wien
Tel: +43-1-5336112-17, Fax: +43-1-5336112-77, Email: sec@ofai.at
PLEASE REGISTER YOUR ATTENDANCE IN ADVANCE AT sec@ofai.at!
THE ATTENDANCE IS FREE OF CHARGE.
PROF. MARIO BUNGE, PHD, FRSC
Professor Emeritus in Philosophy
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
"THE PERSISTENCE OF THE MIND-BODY PROBLEM"
The mind-body problem has been discussed for three millennia.
At least five answers to it have been proposed: (a) mind is immaterial
and rules over matter; (b) mental processes are brain processes;
(c) mind and matter have separate existences and are parallel
to one another; (d) mind and brain are separate but interact with one
another; (e) there is only one kind of entity, which is neither
material nor spiritual but neutral.
I submit that (a) each of the above theses should be examined along
with the ontological (metaphysical) system they belong to, rather than
in isolation; and (b) each doctrine on the nature of he mental should
be evaluated by its heuristic value.
I also suggest that the materialist thesis first proposed by Alcmaeon
is the one inherent in cognitive neuroscience, whereas the view that
the mind is a set of computer programs is a version of Platonism and
moreover incapable of explaining spontaneity and creativity, as well
as devoid of interest to the mental health professionals. I also claim
that this thesis is not to be confused with eliminative materialism,
the thesis that there are no mental processes. Finally, I argue that
the contemporary science of the mind is not a chapter of biology, but
a result of the fusion of several sciences: that it is psycho-neuro-
immuno-endocrino-sociology.
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Time: Thursday, 24th April 2014, 6.30 p.m. sharp
Location: Oesterreichisches Forschungsinstitut
fuer Artificial Intelligence, OFAI
Freyung 6, Stiege 6, 1010 Wien
OESTERREICHISCHES FORSCHUNGSINSTITUT
FUER ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
Prof. Dr. Robert Trappl
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