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Brains, Neuroscience, and Animalism: On the Implications of Thinking Brains
Author(s) -
Gillett Carl
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
the southern journal of philosophy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.281
H-Index - 21
eISSN - 2041-6962
pISSN - 0038-4283
DOI - 10.1111/sjp.12071
Subject(s) - expansive , cognitive science , epistemology , psychology , order (exchange) , philosophy , materials science , compressive strength , finance , economics , composite material
The neuroscience revolution has led many scientists to posit “expansive” or “thinking” brains that instantiate rich psychological properties. As a result, some scientists now even claim you are identical to such a brain. However, E ric O lson has offered new arguments that thinking brains cannot exist due to their intuitively “abominable” implications. After situating the commitment to thinking brains in the wider scientific discussions in which they are posited, I then critically assess O lson's arguments against such entities. Although highlighting an important insight, I show that O lson's objections to the existence of thinking brains fail and that a wider discussion engaging our new empirical findings is actually required in order to resolve the deeper issues.