
Letter from EPS President Mike Austin
September 06, 2023
June 05, 2014
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Many naturalists embrace some version of scientism, holding that modern science is the only or the chief authority regarding our knowledge of objective reality. And this includes our self-knowledge. At one extreme are eliminative materialists like Patricia Churchland who dismiss the idea of souls as lazy, defensive, armchair metaphysics. In her latest work, Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain, Churchland’s main message is that philosophers should get out more, and explore the wonders of empirical neuroscience. Then they will come to agree with her: “I think about my brain…as me.” (11) Churchland is quite certain: materialistic science has got us taped.
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