Arguably since the time of the pre-Socratics thought experimenting has been practiced. They invented thought experimentation as a cognitive procedure.There is widespread agreement that thought experiments play a central role both in philosophy and in the natural sciences and general acceptance of the importance and enormous influence and value of some of the well-known thought experiments in the natural sciences, like Maxwell's demon or Schrödinger's cat. The 17th century saw some of its most brilliant practitioners in Galileo, Newton, and Leibniz. Leibniz developed a science of the mind, which was coherent with human nature as creative reason, rather than animalistic instincts. For the human species to make fundamental changes in its methods of existence, men must be capable of creative reason, instead of merely taking in sensual impressions and acting on instincts. The point of Leibniz's thought experiment is that thinking, feeling, and perceiving cannot be explained by mechanism, by mere parts and movements of parts (as claimed by materialists). In other words, there is more to the mind than the brain (as claimed by dualists). Many contemporary philosophers have objected to some versions of materialism on the basis of thought experiments like Leibniz's: experiments designed to show that qualia and consciousness are bound to elude certain materialist conceptions of the mind (cf. Nagel 1974; Searle 1980).

Il mentalismo sperimentale nei "Nuovi saggi" di Leibniz

EMANUELE, Pietro
2011-01-01

Abstract

Arguably since the time of the pre-Socratics thought experimenting has been practiced. They invented thought experimentation as a cognitive procedure.There is widespread agreement that thought experiments play a central role both in philosophy and in the natural sciences and general acceptance of the importance and enormous influence and value of some of the well-known thought experiments in the natural sciences, like Maxwell's demon or Schrödinger's cat. The 17th century saw some of its most brilliant practitioners in Galileo, Newton, and Leibniz. Leibniz developed a science of the mind, which was coherent with human nature as creative reason, rather than animalistic instincts. For the human species to make fundamental changes in its methods of existence, men must be capable of creative reason, instead of merely taking in sensual impressions and acting on instincts. The point of Leibniz's thought experiment is that thinking, feeling, and perceiving cannot be explained by mechanism, by mere parts and movements of parts (as claimed by materialists). In other words, there is more to the mind than the brain (as claimed by dualists). Many contemporary philosophers have objected to some versions of materialism on the basis of thought experiments like Leibniz's: experiments designed to show that qualia and consciousness are bound to elude certain materialist conceptions of the mind (cf. Nagel 1974; Searle 1980).
2011
9788845267925
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.
Pubblicazioni consigliate

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11570/1912838
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact